
Class _^ '^SJl^iM 
Book.__ -J-Ah 



Copyright N° 



<)00 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT, 



HAND-BOOK 



FOB 



SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHERS. 



By JOSEPH ALDEN, D.D., LL.D., 

H 

PRESIDENT OF NEW YORK STATE NORMAL SaiOOL ; AUTHOR OF " CHRU 

TIAN ETHICS" " SCIENCE OF GOVERNMENT," "ELEMENTS OF 

INTELLECTUAL PHILOSOPHY," "THE NATURAL 

SPEAKER," "NORMAL-CLASS OUTLINES 

ON TEACHING," Ere. 



-^• ^ 



New York : Eaton & Mains 
Cincinnati: Jennings & Pye 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Received 

JUN. 25 1901 

Copyright entry 

^ CLASS O-^lSet Nt». 
/ (d(oL^ 
COPY B, 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872,' by 

NELSON & PHILLIPS, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 

Copyrighted 1900, by William Alden. 



• •» c". " 



• »• ••'■••• 



• • • t/ ♦ 



f^^^^ 




'T^HIS work is designed for a very important 
class of Christian workers — a class among 
whom a wide diversity of culture is found. It 
presents such truths connected with mental 
and spiritual growth as will render the teacher 
more efficient in his work. Whatever promotes 
the teacher s mental and spiritual growth will 
make him a better teacher. A severely sys- 
tematic arrangement of topics has not been 
aimed at. The book is so constructed that it 
can be studied in those fragmentary hours which 
even the busiest can command. 

It is not a book of rules, but of thoughts that 
may help the teacher to form rules for himself 
— a more excellent way than to receive them 
from others. 

New York State Normal School, 
December i, 1871. 




Chapter Page 

I. The True Idea of Education 7 

II. Mental Development and Discipline 15 

III. Perception of Spiritual Truth 25 

IV. Indirect Perception 32 

V. Knowledge and Belief — Grounds of Cer- 
tainty 39 

VI. Attention — Thinking 47 

VII. The Study of Mind — The Teacher's Work. 54 

VIII. Memory — Association of Ideas 59 

IX. Mental Images — Analogies 67 

X. Importance of a Knowledge of Duty 72 

XI. Conscience 78 

XII. Cultivation of Conscience S6 

XIII. Effects of the Fall on the Faculties ... 92 

XIV. The Heart 97 

XV. Habits to be Formed 102 

XVI. The True Idea of Religion ro6 

XVII. Theories of Conversion 112 

XVIII. Conditions of Conversion 118 

XIX. The Law of Happiness 125 



6 Contents. 

Chapter Pagb 

XX. Christ's Example 131 

XXI. The Great Question 137 

XXII. The Great Question — Continued 145 

XXIII. Faith 151 

XXIV. Courteousness 157 

XXV. Adaptation — Influence 162 

XXVI. Progress in Christian Education 168 

XXVII. Self-Denial AND Cross-Bearing 174 

XXVIII. Enjoying Religion 179 

XXIX. Why Should I be a Sunday-School 

Teacher? 184 

XXX. Questioning 189 

XXXI. Preparation for Recitation 195 

XXXII. The Blackboard • 200 

XXXIII. An Educational Photograph 206 

XXXIV. An Educational Photograph 215 





HAND-BOOK ON TEACHING. 



CHAPTER I. 

TRUE IDEA OF EDUCATION. 

'T^HE object of the Sunday-school teacher is 
•*" to restore to the soul the lost image of 
God. Milton regarded this as the end of edu- 
cation. The truths revealed in the Gospel 
make the attainment of this end possible. The 
design of the Gospel is to make perfect men in 
Christ Jesus, — men prepared for every good 
work. 

In order that one may become a perfect man, 
all his powers must be developed and disci- 
plined and directed aright. This requires that 
his intellectual as well as his moral or religious 



8 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

powers should be developed, disciplined, and 
directed aright 

The Sunday-school teacher*s work is, there- 
fore, not confined to the communication and 
inculcation of certain religious truths. He is 
to endeavor to make his pupils perfect men in 
Christ Jesus — he is to aid them in forming a 
perfect character. Hence he is to have regard, 
so far as may be, to their physical and intellect- 
ual as well as to their religious culture. 

There is, in truth, no ground for the distinc- 
tion commonly made between religious and 
secular education. Religious duties compre- 
hend all the duties of man. All our voluntary 
actions have a moral character — have relation 
to duty. What are termed duties to ourselves 
and to our fellow-men, are also duties to God. 
It is God's will that we should take care of our 
bodies, and hence it is his will that we should ac- 
quire the knowledge necessary for that purpose. 
It is God's will that we should use our intellect- 
ual powers in the perception of truth, and in 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 9 

the performance of duty — hence the duty of 
cultivating those powers. 

The development and discipline of his intellect- 
ual powers is a prominent part of man's so-called 
secular education. From what has been said, 
it appears that it is a part of his religious edu- 
cation. It is embraced in his religious educa- 
tion as the less is included in the greater. 

While the main object of the Sunday-school 
teacher is the formation of a religious character, 
and while his main instrument is religious 
truth, he is to have reference, in his work, to 
the formation of all the habits, physical, intel- 
lectual, social, as well as religious, which go to 
make a perfect man. Hence all the knowledge 
and skill required by the secular teacher, will 
be of advantage to him. 

His labors are not confined to the hour spent 
with his class on the Sabbath. He is a laborer 
together with God in the work of education. 
He will endeavor to influence minds in the 
circle to which he belongs, and in the family 



lo Hand-Book on Teaching. 

of which he is a member. It is tHe design of 
this volume to call his attention to some 
truths which will aid him in his work as an 
educator. 

As the mind is the material on which he is 
to act, he needs to know something about it, 
just as the farmer needs to know something 
about the soil he cultivates. 

The plant is wisely cultivated when the gar- 
dener has regard to its natural laws of growth, 
— v/hen he endeavors to make it such a plant 
as it was designed to be. 

Man is wisely cultivated when those means 
are used, which are adapted to make him such a 
being as he was designed to be. 

The educator needs to know what the mind 
was made to do, and how it was made to do it. 
This can be learned by the study of his own 
mind, and of the minds of others as revealed 
by action. 

Every one, by observation, learns something 
about the body and how to deal with it ; and 



Hand-Book on Teaching. ii 

every one can, by observation, learn something 
about the mind and how to deal with it. 

The teacher is to aid the mind of his pupil to 
do what God made it to do, and thus to aid him 
to become such a being as God designed him 
to be. 

It is of the utmost importance that he should 
have a clear idea of the end to which his efforts 
should be directed. Unless he have a clear 
idea of the end, there can be no wise adapta- 
tion of means for the attainment of the end. 

The teacher cannot too soon dismiss the idea 
that the end of education is the attainment of 
knowledge, and that the work of the teacher is 
to communicate knowledge. 

The acquisition of knowledge sustains to 
education the relation of means to an end. By 
acquiring knowledge, the mind is exercised, and 
thus its growth is promoted. Exercise is the 
law of bodily and of mental growth. Much 
depends upon the kind of exercise. 

If knowledge could be poured into the mind 



I 2 H AND"B00K ON TEACHING. 

as water is poured into a vessel, it would not 
educate the mind. When the mind puts forth 
vigorous and well-directed efforts for acquiring 
knowledge, its powers are developed and disci- 
plined, and the knowledge acquired serves to 
direct its subsequent activity. 

When it is said that knowledge expands the 
mind, the meaning is that the mind is improved 
by the exercise of acquiring knowledge, and by 
the exercise which that knowledge prompts and 
directs. 

The mind is educated when it is in a con- 
dition to do what God made it to do. 

There is an analogy between the education 
of the body and the education of the mind. 
The members of the body are educated when 
they are in a condition to do what they were 
made to do. The hands are educated when 
they have acquired the strength and flexibility 
requisite for performing their appropriate offices. 
The legs are educated when the muscles and 
tendons are developed and brought under thQ 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 13 

control of the mind, so that voluntary locomo- 
tion is feasible. 

We have all observed the process by which 
this condition of the hands and the legs is 
secured. The educational process was difficult 
and long continued. Success was the result of 
many efforts accompanied by many failures. 

These efforts must be put forth by the subject 
whose limbs are to be educated. No amount 
of lecturing on the anatomy of the hands and 
legs, and no amount of exercise of the hands 
and legs of the teacher, will accomplish the de- 
sired end. No amount of riding will enable 
one to walk. One learns to walk by walking, 
and in no other way. 

The mind is educated when its powers are 
developed and disciplined, so that it can per- 
form its appropriate work. The condition of 
growth with respect to mind as well as with 
respect to body, is voluntary exercise. The ac- 
quisition of knowledge furnishes a portion of 
the requisite exercise. 



14 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

Effort on the part of the teacher will not 
supply the place of effort on the part of the 
pupil. The teacher may tell the pupil what to 
do and how to do it, but he cannot do his 
work for him. The work of education must be 
done by the pupil. All true education is self- 
education. 

The pupil's efforts for the acquisition of 
knowledge should be so directed, that they may 
constitute appropriate exercises for the develop- 
ment and discipline of his mind. Skill in thus 
directing the operations of the mind, is the skill 
of the mind-former. The true teacher is a 
mind-former. He gives to the mind its form 
and pressure. 




CHAPTER 11. 

MENTAL DEVELOPMENT AND DISCIPLINE. 

TT 7E have seen that the mind is to be de- 
veloped and discipHned, so that it can 
do what God raade it to do. What is meant by 
development and discipUne ? 

The body is born with a capacity for walking. 
When one has acquired sufficient strength for 
walking, and the requisite skill, the capacity for 
walking is said to be developed. Observe, men- 
tion is made of strength and skill. A man may 
have strong legs, but if they are not subject to 
his control, they will not be of much use as 
instruments of walking. When the muscles 
are completely obedient to the will, the power 
of walking may be said to be developed and 
disciplined. 

So our mental powers are developed and 



1 6 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

disciplined when they are strong and under 
control. 

The object of the teacher is not to make a 
geographer, or a mathematician, or a linguist, but 
a man thoroughly furnished for every good 
work. 

Useful knowledge is that which gives due 
exercise to the mind while acquiring it, and 
gives right direction to the subsequent activi- 
ties of the mind. Knowledge is power so far 
as it prompts the mind to action, and gives a 
right direction to that action. 

In order to right mental culture, the first 
thing to be known is what the mind was made 
to do. The mind is self-active ; it cannot be in 
a state of inaction except when the body is in a 
swoon, and, perhaps, in a sound sleep. It is not 
proposed to consider all the acts the mind is 
capable of performing, but only some of the 
more important ones. We shall consider these, 
that we may see what conditions are necessary, in 
order that they may be performed in the best way. 



Haxd-Book on Teaching. 17 

We may ask, What can the mind do ? or what 
faculties does the mind possess ? The two 
questions amount to the same thing. To say 
that the mind can do certain things, and to say 
that it has a faculty for doing them, is saying 
the same thing. In the one case, the attention 
is mainly fixed on the mental acts, and in the 
other, on the power by which those acts are 
performed. If the mind can do certain things, 
it, of course, has power to do those things. 

Some use language that would imply that the 
faculties of the mind are something distinct 
from the mind — that the mind is composed of 
faculties. It is important that the teacher have 
clear ideas on this subject. 

The mind has the faculty of perception, the 

faculty of memory, the faculty of reasoning, and 

many other faculties ; that is, it can perceive 

material objects, it can remember past events, 

and can infer a truth from other known truths. 

When the mind is perceiving external objects, 

it is said to be exercising the faculty of percep- 

2 



1 8 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

tion. When it is recalling past events, it is said 
to be exercising the faculty of memory. When 
it is inferring a truth or truths from other truths, 
it is said to be exercising the faculty of reason- 
ing. When we say we are cultivating a certain 
faculty, we mean that we are exercising the 
mind in performing a certain class of acts. Our 
attention should be given to the operations of 
the mind, which are realities, and not to the 
faculties, which are merely names. 

We will now consider some of the things 
which the mind was made to do, and what are 
the conditions necessary in order that it may 
do them most effectively. We can thus learn 
how to use our minds to the best advantage. 
It is desirable that the owner of a sewing ma- 
chine know how to use it to the best advantage : 
much more is it desirable that the owner of a 
mind should know how to use it to the best 
advantage. 

The mind was made to know. Some persons 
will think that a definition of knowing ought to 



Hand-Book on Teaching. ig 

be given. Some have been led to think that 
the first thing in every study and in every 
department of study, is to commit a definition 
to memory. 

The object of a definition is to tell what a 
thing is ; and if it does not tell what a thing is, 
it is of no use. You can never tell what a 
thing is before you know what it is ; hence, 
knowledge must go before definitions. 

There are some things which we know, but 
which we cannot define. We all know what 
knowing is, but no one can give a formal defi- 
nition of knowing. He may say that "knowing 
is being certain that something is." What is 
" being certain that something is ^ '' Is it any 
clearer than the term knowing ? Does any one 
know what knowing is any better, in conse- 
quence of being told that it is being certain 
that something is ? I think not 

In chemistry there are certam simple sub- 
stances which are incapable of analysis ; and 
so in mind, there are simple operations that 



20 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

cannot be defined ; and attempts to define them 
are only words without knowledge. The act of 
knowing is one of those operations. It can be 
known only in consciousness, that is, by hav- 
ing experience of the operation. 

The mind can know material objects. It 
knows that they exist, and that many things 
are true respecting them. Existence cannot be 
defined. 

The mind acquires a knowledge of material 
things by means of the senses. The senses are 
the instruments of the mind. The eye is an 
instrument by which the mind sees. The eye 
is an instrument as truly as the telescope is an 
instrument. Separate the eye from the mind, 
and it cannot see, any more than the telescope 
can see. A similar remark may be made re- 
specting the other senses. 

We often meet with the phrase, " the educa- 
tion of the senses." What is meant by it ? It 
is plain that the senses, that is, the material 
organs of sense, cannot be educated apart from 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 21 

the mind. They may be kept in a healthful 
state ; but a healthful state of the eye or the 
ear is not a condition or state of the mind. It 
is a condition or state of certain portions of the 
body. What is called the education of the 
senses, is really the education of the mind. The 
senses are said to be educated when the mind 
has been trained to use them aright — when the 
mind has acquired the power and the habit of 
accurate perception by means of the senses. 

The power of accurately perceiving objects 
is acquired by exercise — by trying to perceive 
accurately. What do we do when we try to 
perceive accurately ? What do we do when we 
wish to acquire an accurate knowledge of the 
appearance of a visible object ? We look at it, 
fix our attention upon it, and continue to look 
at it till we see it clearly. 

The education of the senses, then, consists in 
forming habits of attending to the objects of 
the senses — in other words, in forming habits 
of accurate observation. 



22 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

The first habit that the young should be led 
to form, is the habit of attending to objects 
around them, and to what is going on around 
them. To repress the natural curiosity of a 
child is to do it a great injury. Habits of ob- 
servation and of investigation should be encour- 
aged, even at the expense of broken playthings 
and household quiet. No knowledge is so thor- 
oughly one's own as that which is spontane- 
ously acquired. In early childhood, nature 
would fain be the child's instructor. She does 
not meet him with formal and, to him, incom- 
prehensible definitions, and systematized knowl- 
edge. She meets him with individual facts in 
great variety. 

The majority of persons grow up without 
habits of accurate observation. Hence they 
are ignorant of many things, a knowledge of 
which could have been acquired without effort. 
No opportunity of leading the young to form 
habits of accurate observation, should be lost. 

What is commonly called object teaching 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 23 

consists in calling the attention of the pupil to 
material things. Its chief utility consists in 
forming a habit of attention to material objects. 
The knowledge gained is of small importance 
compared with the formation of the habit of 
attention. 

In order to form a habit of attention, the ob- 
jects set before the pupil must be such as will 
add to his knowledge. If objects with which 
he is familiar are placed before him, and the 
questions asked point to nothing unknown to 
him, he may answer those questions ; but the 
lesson will simply be an exercise in vocal utter- 
ance. The pupil will soon grow weary of the 
exercise. It will not tend to increase his power 
of attention. 

It is not contended that every question relat- 
ing to an object presented to a pupil, should 
direct his mind to a fact previously unperceived. 
Attention may be called to known truths as the 
basis of inferring other truths, or for the pur- 
pose of leading to the perception of analogous 



24 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

truths. It is only when such questions are 
asked without any ulterior object that they are 
exceptionable. 

The proverb, "Physician, heal thyself," is 
applicable to the teacher in every department 
of his work. The teacher must possess habits 
of observation himself, if he would be success- 
ful in his efforts to lead others to form them. 




CHAPTER III. 

PERCEPTION -OF SPIRITUAL TRUTH. 

T T TE have seen that the mind can perceive 
external material objects, and that the 
extent and accuracy of its perceptions depend, 
in a great measure, upon its habits of attention. 
Material objects are not the only objects it can 
perceive. Sense-perceptions do not constitute 
the whole of our knowledge. 

The mind can perceive a great many truths 
which do not pertain directly or indirectly to 
material objects. There are subjects of knowl- 
edge, realities, which are not material. The 
mind and its operations, the truths of mathe- 
matical science, the existence and character of 
God, form subjects of knowledge entirely inde- 
pendent of matter. Truths pertaining to these 
and to similar subjects may be termed spiritual 



26 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

truths, as truths pertaining to matter may be 
termed material truths. 

How does the mind proceed in perceiving 
these truths ? What can be done to cause it to 
perceive them to the best advantage ? 

Some of these truths are seen directly — 
intuitively — as soon as the mind looks at them, 
that is, as soon as the attention is directed to 
them. 

You know that you, that is, your mind, exists. 
How do you know it ? You never saw your 
mind by the eye, nor felt it by the sense of 
touch, and yet you know that it exists. You 
do not believe that it exists ; you know that it 
exists. You know it by a direct and necessary 
knowledge. If asked how you know that you 
exist, you can only say, " I know that I exist." 

All our first knowledges of spiritual truth are 
thus direct, intuitive perceptions. 

Truths thus directly seen are called intuitive 
truths. The term intuitive is not used with 
reference to the nature of the truths perceived, 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 27 

but with reference to the mode in which the 
mind perceives them. 

There are intuitive truths in every depart- 
ment of knowledge. The first facts in relation 
to every science are perceived intuitively. If 
we could not perceive facts intuitively, we 
should have no facts to draw inferences from. 
All our first knowledges are intuitions. 

It is not meant that such truths are native to 
the mind ; but that the mind perceives them as 
soon as they are set before it. 

Such truths are also called self-evident truths, 
because they do not require proof They can- 
not be proved, because nothing plainer or more 
evident can be set before the mind. 

Intuitive truths — those that are really self- 
evident — are admitted by all men to be true. 
No one has a right to regard a truth as self- 
evident unless it is received as such by all those 
to whose minds it has been presented. 

Attempts have sometimes been made to 
prove self-evident truths. The effect has 



28 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

always been to produce confusion in the 
mind. 

When we wish to present truths to other 
minds, we must see whether those truths are self- 
evident or not. If they are clearly self-evident, 
then we have nothing 'to do to secure their 
reception by any sane mind, except to set them 
before that mind. 

The statement that we ought to do right is a 
self-evident truth. The attempt to prove this 
proposition has led to many errors. When a 
right action is set before the mind, and the 
question is asked. Why should I do that act ? 
the sufficient answer is, Because it is right. It 
is quite as reasonable to say we should do an 
action because it is right, as to say we should 
believe a proposition because it is true. No one 
thinks of asking for a reason for believing a true 
proposition, and no one should think of asking 
for a reason for doing right. There are evil 
consequences which may follow a failure to be- 
lieve what is true, and to do what is right, but 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 29 

those consequences have nothing to do with the 
grounds of beheving and of well-doing. 

When a truth is really self-evident, we need 
not fear to present it to young minds. If it is 
clearly stated, they will receive it. Whenever 
we are about to state a truth to our pupils, we 
should consider whether it is a self-evident 
truth or not. If it is, all that is needed is sim- 
plicity of statement. Care must be taken not 
to state as self-evident, truths that require 
proof. 

It has been affirmed that the proposition, 
'' There is a God," is the expression of a self- 
evident truth. There are those who deny thai 
there is a God. Hence we are not authorised 
to regard the proposition as self-evident. We 
are authorised to treat as self-evident only those 
truths which are admitted by all to be true — 
admitted either by word or deed. Some, by 
words, deny intuitive truths which, by deeds, 
they admit. It is a self-evident truth that we 
are free moral agents, and that we are to blame 



30 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

when we do wrong. There are those who con- 
tend that all our acts are the result of a fatal 
necessity, and hence, that we are not to blame 
for them. Let any one steal the pocket-book 
of one of these men who deny man's free 
agency, and he will show by his actions that he 
believes the thief is guilty, and deserves to be 
punished. 

What shall we do that we may have a clear 
perception of intuitive truths ? We must fix 
our attention upon them. That is all that we 
can do. We have only to look at such truths 
to see them. The more sharply we look, the 
more clear and numerous will be our percep- 
tions. 

Clearness of perception is of the utmost im- 
portance. The perceptions of many resemble 
those of the half-healed Wind man who saw 
men as trees walking. 

We learn to see clearly, by trying to see 
clearly — by fixing our attention steadily on the 
truths seen. We shall be aided in our attempts 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 31 

at clear seeing, if we attempt to give verbal ex- 
pression to our perceptions. We often find it 
difficult to express a truth which we seem to 
see clearly. The difficulty is owing to the fact 
that we do not see the truth clearly. The at- 
tempt to express it revealed the fact of imper- 
fect perception. 

Whenever you have truths which you wish 
to communicate to your class, give formal verbal 
if not vocal expression to them before you go 
before the class. Clearness of perception leads 
to clearness of expression, and clearness of ex- 
pression leads to clearness of perception on the 
part of those addressed. 





CHAPTER IV. 

INDIRECT PERCEPTION. 

"IT /"E have seen that the mind perceives 
truth directly — intuitively. All its first 
perceptions are intuitive. If we had no intui- 
tions, we could have no inferences. 

The mind can draw inferences. Having seen 
some self-evident truths, it is thereby enabled to 
see other truths that are not self-evident. For 
example : Snow has fallen in the night to the 
depth of six inches. You look out in the morn- 
ing, and see the ground white with snow This 
is a direct or intuitive perception. You see the 
snow by looking at it. 

You also see that the snow in the street has 
been disturbed since it fell. This is also a di- 
rect perception. You say, " A horse and sleigh 
haye passed since the snow fell." How do you 



Haxd-Book on Teaching. 33 

know that ? you did not see the horse and sleigh 
pass. You saw the marks in the snow, and in- 
ferred that they were made by a horse and 
sleigh. The proposition, ''Ahorse and sleigh 
have passed," is not a direct perception, but an 
inference. You have seen similar marks in the 
snow, which you knew were made by a horse 
and sleigh, and you infer that these marks were 
made by a horse and sleigh. 

The steps in this process were as follows : 
First, a perception of the marks in the snow ; 
second, a recollection of former marks caused 
by a horse and sleigh ; third, an inference from 
analogy grounded on the principle that like 
causes produce like effects. The three steps 
thus taken in this case are, a direct perception, 
recollected knowledge, and an inference from 
analogy. 

This process is very frequently performed by 
the mind. We are constantly drawing infer- 
ences — seeing things to be true in consequence 

of having seen certain other things to be true. 

3 



34 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

You hear an organ in the street. The truth 
expressed by the proposition, '^ There is an or- 
gan in the street," is not a direct perception, 
but an inference. You hear a certain sound. 
That is a direct perception. You have heard 
similar sounds which you knew were caused by 
an organ. That is a recollection. You infer 
that these sounds are caused by an organ. 

You see an inscription on a wall. You say, 
" Some person wrote that inscription on the 
wall.'* There is the direct perception of the 
inscription. There is the recollection of the 
fact that similar inscriptions were made by a 
person, and the inference that the inscription 
before you was made by some person. 

You see a person who gives indication of a 
fondn.ess for intoxicating drinks. You infer that 
he will probably become a drunkard. The proc- 
ess in this case is the same as in the cases 
mentioned above. There is a perception of the 
fondness of the man for alcoholic beverages, 
the recollection of similar cases resulting in 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 35 

drunkenness, and the inference that this will 
result in drunkenness. 

You have now seen the two ways in which 
the mind acquires knowledge — by direct per- 
ception, and by inference. 

It may be asked. Does not the mind acquire 
knowledge by reasoning ? 

Inferring is reasoning. The process of rea- 
soning has been described above. It is quite a 
simple process. It is a process that is per- 
formed by the child many times every day. 

The examples given above furnish the type 
of the largest portion of all our reasonings in 
regard to the practical affairs of life. In nine 
hundred and ninety-nine cases out of a thou- 
sand, what are called the conclusions of reason, 
are inferences from analogy. The truth of this 
remark can be readily tested by the records of 
experience. 

All the conclusions founded on experience 
are inferences from analogy. The physician 
has a patient. He prescribes a remedy. He 



36 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

is guided by his experience, he says. But what 
is the exact state of the case ? He has had, at 
a former time, a patient suffering in a similar 
manner, with similar symptoms. A certain 
medicine cured him. He infers that the same 
medicine will cure his present patient. The 
inference is an inference from analogy. 

The statesman adopts a measure for the ben- 
efit of the country. He has found that a simi- 
lar measure benefited another country, hence 
he infers that this measure will benefit his coun- 
try. The conclusions of the statesman are 
inferences from analogy. 

It may be said, Does not the mind arrive at 
truth by the process of induction ? Are not a 
large portion of the truths of science arrived at 
by induction ? 

Yes ; but let us see what the process of induc- 
tion is. You discover a new. metal. You drop 
a piece of it in water, and it sinks to the bot- 
tom. You drop in another piece with the same 
result. You repeat the experiment several 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 37 

times, and come to the conclusion that all 
pieces of that metal will sink in water. The 
conclusion is an inference from analogy. You 
saw several pieces sink, and inferred that all 
smiilar pieces will sink. 

It may be asked, Does not judgment inform 
us of some truths ? The fact that the phrase, 
''judgment and reasoning," is used by some 
writers, may lead the reader to suppose that 
judgment, as well as reasoning, is a source of 
knowledge. What is meant by judgment? 

. Judgment is the power of the mind to judge. 
What is judging ? what does the mind do when 
it judges ? 

You judge it to be wise to do a certain thing ; 
in other words, you come to the conclusion 
that it is wise for you to do a certain thing ; 
in other words, you infer that it is wise for you 
to do a certain thing. Judging is inferring. 
We use the term judgment to mark a conclu- 
sion that results from the consideration of 
numerous and, perhaps, apparently conflicting 



38 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

facts or truths. A man of sound judgment can 
come to a wise conclusion, can draw an accurate 
inference, from facts that are compUcated and 
somewhat obscure. 

Many men can infer correctly in simple cases 
— where the facts are simple and clearly seen. 
Few men can infer correctly when the facts are 
complicated and conflicting. 

It still remains true that there are but two 
ways in which the mind, by its own action ac- 
quires knowledge — by direct perception, and by 
inference. 





CHAPTER V. 

KNOWLEDGE AND BELIEF GROUNDS OF 

CERTAINTY. 

TT /"E have endeavored to give an analysis 
of the process of reasoning. To give 
an analysis of the reasoning process is to state 
what we do when we reason. Our object has 
been to show that it is a very simple process. 
Many perform it without being aware of the 
steps they take. A knowledge of those steps 
will enable them to reason more skilfully. 

You will observe that an inference cannot be 
drawn from one truth. There must always be 
two or more truths present to the mind when 
an inference is drawn. The truth of this 
assertion, and of every assertion relating to 
the mind, must be tested by the reader's ex- 
perience. 



40 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

You see a stone fall on a man's head. You 
infer that it will injure him. Here you seem 
to draw an inference from a single fact — the 
falling of the stone. A moment's reflection 
will show that this is not the case. If you had 
never seen a stone before, and of course knew 
nothing of its comparative gravity, you could 
not tell whether it would injure the man's head 
or not. When you see the stone strike the 
head, and infer consequent injury, your infer- 
ence is founded on knowledge previously gained. 
Recollected knowledge is a part of the ground 
of inference in this case, as well as in those 
cases mentioned in a former chapter. 

There is one other method by which knowl- 
edge is acquired, viz., testimony. All the orig- 
inal knowledge acquired by the mind, is acquired 
by direct perception and by inference. Besides 
the knowledge thus acquired, there is that re- 
ceived on the testimony of others. 

A large amount of the knowledge we possess 
is from this source. Nearly all our knowledge 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 41 

of the natural sciences is received on the testi- 
mony of men of science. Few make original 
investigations. Few observe facts and draw 
inferences on scientific subjects. 

What we see for ourselves intuitively or by 
accurate inference, we are said to know ; what 
we receive as true on testimony, we are said to 
believe. 

It would be a good mental exercise to trace 
the different items of your knowledge to their 
source. You saw a man in distress yesterday, 
and you knew that you ought to help him. To 
which of the three sources of knowledge men- 
tioned is that knowledge to be referred ? To 
direct perception ; that is, you saw intuitively 
that you ought to help the man. 

There has been a house burned here. To 
what source is this knowledge to be referred ? 
To inference ; you infer from the charred re- 
mains that a house has been burned. 

You are acquainted with the leading incident 
in the life of Oliver Cromwell. You received 



42 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

this knowledge from testimony. Take various 
items of knowledge, and inquire in what manner 
the mind acquired them. The more you exer- 
cise your mind in observing its operations, the 
better teacher you will become. The more 
you know about your own mind, the better 
you will be prepared to deal with the minds of 
others. 

Of some things we are certain. We are cer- 
tain that we exist. We are certain that we see 
the objects immediately before us. Can you 
define certainty ? that is, can you give such a 
definition as will inform one who has never had 
experience of that state of mind, what it is ? 

What are the grounds of certainty ? 

1. We are certain in respect to all our intui- 
tive perceptions. 

2. We are certain in respect to some of our 
inferences. We see a beautiful picture — a work 
of the highest art. We are sure it was painted 
by a man, and not by a monkey. 

In some cases, we are not sure that our infer- 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 43 

ences are correct. We notice the appearance 
of the heavens, and infer that it will rain. We 
are not sure that it will rain, but we think it 
almost certain that it will. Our inferences 
vary from absolute certainty to the slightest 
probability. 

3. We are certain in respect to some propo- 
sitions received by testimony. We are certain 
that there was such a man as Washington. 
We are certain there is such a place as London. 
The state of mind produced by testimony, 
varies from absolute certainty to the slightest 
probability. 

We have spoken of intuitive or self-evident 
truths. It must not be supposed that these 
truths differ in kind from other truths. There 
seems to be an impression of this sort on the 
minds of some. They have sought to give an 
exhaustive catalogue of self-evident truths, as 
though these truths constituted a class by 
themselves. 

The truths first perceived by us in relation 



44 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

to any subject are intuitive truths. If we 
could not see some truths by direct looking, we 
could not acquire any knowledge. 

There are thus intuitive truths pertaining to 
every subject of knowledge. Perhaps the range 
of intuition is wider in some minds than in 
others. Truths may be directly perceived by 
some minds, which other minds cannot perceive 
without proof. Be this as it may, we have no 
right to regard as self-evident any truths that 
are not self-evident to all. In reasoning, we 
must not assume as the basis of our inferences 
any truths except those admitted by all, or pre- 
viously proven. 

There is a distinction in regard to truth 
founded on the nature or kind of the truths 
distinguished. It is true that I am writing 
these lines. It is not necessarily true. It hap- 
pens to be true. 

The whole of a material thing is greater than 
its part. This is necessarily true. It is impos- 
sible for it to be otherwise. 



Haxd-Book on Teaching. 45 

Truths may thus be divided into contingent 
and necessary truths. 

We are certain that all necessary truths per- 
ceived by us are true. Of all the truths of 
geometry, we are equally certain. 

We are certain of some contingent truths. 
We are certain that we exist, though it is not 
necessary that we exist. It was not necessary 
that God should create us. Yet we are as cer- 
tain of the proposition, " we exist/' as*'we are 
of any proposition in geometry. 

There are some contingent truths in regard 
to which we are not certain — in regard to which 
there are various degrees of approach to cer- 
tainty. 

An error entertained by some is, that greater 
certainty attaches to all necessary truths than 
to any contingent truths. They think that 
truths pertaining to science are more certain 
than truths pertaining to duty. They contend 
that the truths of religion are not necessary 
truths, and that, consequently, they are less 



46 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

certain than necessary truths. They demand 
mathematical evidence for the truth of the 
Bible. They assume that we cannot be certain 
of any truth unless it is supported by mathe- 
matical evidence. 

We have seen that we are as absolutely cer- 
tain of some contingent truths as we are of 
necessary truths. When we see the charred 
remains of a building, we are just as certain 
that there has been a fire there, as we are that 
all right angles are equal. 

It is as unreasonable to demand mathemat- 
ical evidence for contingent truth, as it is to 
demand wings for a horse. 

One thing it is right to demand. It is right 
to demand adequate evidence for every propo- 
sition. We cannot be under obligation to be- 
lieve a proposition, unless there is adequate 
evidence for its truth. We could not be under 
obligation to believe that "the Bible is the word 
of God," if there were not adequate evidence 
of the truth of that proposition. 




H 



CHAPTER VI. 

ATTENTION THINKING. 

OW shall the power of intuitive percep- 
tion and the power of inferring be culti- 
vated ? By carefully exercising those powers. 
For this, attention is necessary. We have to 
turn our attention to self-evident truths, if we 
would see them. 

We are next to turn our attention upon things 
as connected and related, that we may see their 
connections. One man sees a truth, and that is 
all he sees. Another sees the same truth, and 
fixing his attention steadily upon it, calls to 
mind similar truths, and is thus led to see a 
truth that he has not seen before. The grand 
rule for securing clear intuitions and sound in- 
ferences, is to fix our continuous attention upon 
the truths before us. Power to fix the attention, 



48 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

to concentrate it upon a subject or upon a 
thought, constitutes mental discipline. 

Since this power of attention is so important 
with reference to our intuitive perceptions and 
our inferences, it becomes an interesting ques- 
tion, How shall it be acquired ? 

Like every other power of the mind, it is 
strengthened by exercise. 

Attention is of two kinds, voluntary and in- 
voluntary. A tooth is painful. The attention 
is fixed upon it spontaneously. You take up a 
thrilling narrative. Your attention is absorbed 
by it without any effort on your part. 

You are called to consider a repulsive subject. 
It is with great difficulty that you can fix your 
attention upon it. It is only by a vigorous ef- 
fort, an act of will, that you can keep your mind 
on it at all. 

What is needed is a power of voluntary atten- 
tion that shall be as effective in its results as 
those of spontaneous attention are. 

To this end, the following exercise is suggested 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 49 

Take a book of thought, and endeavor to fix 
your attention upon it as closely as it often is 
fixed upon an interesting narrative. You will, 
probably, soon find your mind wandering, 
will find your thoughts on something having 
very little connection with the book you are 
reading. 

Begin again at the beginning, and continue 
to do so as long as is necessary. Do not turn 
the leaf till you have succeeded in reading the 
entire page with fixed attention. Let this be a 
daily exercise, a very short one if need be, but 
let it be a daily exercise. You will rapidly gain 
power over your attention — ^you will get control 
over your mind. 

This power will render your perceptions 
more numerous and clear. 

Consider what effect the possession of this 

power in a high degree, would have upon the 

preparations of your lessons for the class-room. 

You take up the lesson — you glance at it, and 

see nothing very interesting in it. But fix your 

4 



50 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

attention upon it for a long time, and what is 
the result ? You begin to see in it, and con- 
nected with it, truths that you never saw before. 
You see how this point can be illustrated, and 
that so presented as to awaken interest and, 
perhaps, to reach the conscience. The lesson 
is seen to be rich in materials for instruction. 
All these interesting truths you would not have 
seen, if your attention had not been fixed steadily 
and long. 

Most of the great discoveries of science have 
been the result of fixedness of attention. Sir 
Isaac Newton said that he differed from other 
men chiefly in the power of concentrated and 
continued attention. 

This power is the condition of thinking. 
What is thinking ? What do you do when you 
think ? 

You fix your attention on a subject, and see 
what is true respecting it. For example, one 
asks you if he should pursue a certain course 
of conduct — do a certain thing. You reply, 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 51 

" I will think about it, and give you an 
9.nswer." 

What do you do when you think about it ? 
You simply fix your attention upon the subject, 
and keep it fixed till you have seen the advan- 
tages likely to follow the course proposed. You 
see that the disadvantages exceed the advan- 
tages, and you advise your friend not to enter 
upon that course. Your process of thinking 
was simply that of fixing the attention and of 
seeing. 

You write an essay, and are asked where you 
got the ideas it contains ? You reply that you 
thought them out. What did you do ? You 
fixed your attention on the subject. For a 
time, perhaps, you saw nothing new ; but after 
a while, you saw one truth after another relating 
to the subject. From these truths you selected 
the most valuable, and arranged them in order, 
and committed them to paper. The proc- 
ess of acquiring the ideas was a process of 
seeing. 



52 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

If you wish to describe a house, you look at 
it carefully, and write what you see. When you 
wish to write an essay on a subject, you look 
at that subject till you see what is true respect- 
ing it, and write. 

Thinking is seeing the truth. The main con- 
dition of seeing the truth is, fixing the attention 
upon it. 

From what has been said, it will be seen that 
the importance of forming habits of attention 
can scarcely be overrated. Whenever you aid 
the pupil in forming the habit of attention, you 
do him a great service. 

In preparing for his recitation or class exer- 
cise, the teacher will consider by what means 
he may interest the pupils and fix their at- 
tention. 

Notice an error into which some teachers fall. 
They have learned that amusing anecdotes at- 
tract the attention, hence they collect and 
relate them. The effect is not favorable to 
habits of voluntary attention. There is merely 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 53 

the exercise of spontaneous attention. The 
end to be aimed at is exercise of voluntary 
attention. The skill of the teacher should be 
employed so as to awaken an interest that shall 
lead to a voluntary exercise of attention ; for 
thus only can the desired habit be formed. 




CHAPTER VII. 

THE STUDY OF MIND THE TEACHER'S WORK. 

A LL teachers are ready to confess that the 
study of the mind must be useful to them ; 
but many have labored under the impression 
that the study of the mind is the study of 
books, and books of by no means an attractive 
character. 

The student of mind should study his own 
mind, observe what it can do, and what is 
necessary that it may work to the best advan- 
tage. The facts to be studied are the opera- 
tions of the mind. They are not wrapt up in 
technical terms and obscure phraseology. They 
are open to observation whenever you will give 
your attention to them. 

We have endeavored to point out the methods 
in which the mind acquires knowledge. The 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 55 

processes are seen to be very simple ones. If 
our statements have been correct, the reader 
can verify them by a reference to his own expe- 
rience — then the work before the teacher is 
simple. So far as the acquisition of knowledge 
is concerned, he is to train the mind to see 
clearly and to infer correctly. Regard should 
be had to these points, in every class exercise. 

The pupil sees a truth. A few judicious 
questions may cause him to see it more 
clearly. Requiring him to express his per-- 
ception, will often add to the clearness of that 
perception. 

When facts are before his mind, he can be 
led to draw inferences from them. He may be 
guarded against false inferences, and led forward 
the right way — not by positive rules, but by a 
skilful influence exerted by the teacher. 

When the object is to communicate knowl- 
edge, knowledge to be received on testimony, 
clearness of statement, and naturalness of ar- 
ransrement should be studied. If the teacher 



56 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

would tell the pupil something, it is not sufficient 
that he have in his own mind .the knowledge he 
wishes to convey. It is not sufficient that he 
have a great command of words and a ready 
utterance. He must so present what he wishes 
to communicate, that it shall be understood. 
To make connected statements that shall be 
fully understood, is not an easy task. 

When any knowledge on a new subject is 
communicated to a mind, it is but imperfectly 
apprehended. If there is nothing in the mind 
analogous to it, it wears a strange aspect, as it 
were, to the mind. The wise teacher will have 
regard to this, and will not attempt to make a 
full communication at once. He will place in 
the mind a nucleus to which he can add from 
time to time. By this means, the truth will 
be more perfectly understood and assimilated 
by the mind. 

To multitudes of those gathered into our 
Sunday-schools, the truths taught in the schools 
are entirely new. The clearest and simplest 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 57 

statement will be but partially understood by 
them. They will need ^' line upon line, and pre- 
cept upon precept." They will need frequent 
repetition from different points of approach. 

The great business of the teacher, so far as 
knowledge is concerned, is to make his pupils 
seers. To this end he must be a seer himself. 
He must also understand the ignorance of his 
pupil, and put himself in the pupil's place, that 
he may know the effects produced on the pupil's 
mind. 

The words of the teacher may express to his 
own mind the exact truth he desires to convey ; 
but they may not express it to a mind ignorant 
of all the related truths with which the teacher 
is familiar. 

Take up one of the historical compends that 
are used as text-books in our schools. One 
who has studied larger works — who is familiar 
with the history of the nations whose history is 
sketched in the text-book, reads the book with 
interest. To him the brief allusions have mean- 



58 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

ing. But let a person who is not in possession 
of a single historical fact in relation to those 
nations, take up the book, and a large portion 
of it is unintelligible. The narrative is half 
made up of allusions to facts of which he has 
no knowledge. His study of the book is, for 
the most part, the study of mere words. 

If a man would write a history that shall 
be intelligible to one who is entirely ignorant 
of history, he must put himself in the place of 
the person to whom it is addressed, and must not 
insert a sentence that is not intelligible to 
himself while thus personating the ignorant 
reader. 

The teacher should pursue a similar course. 
He should put himself in the place of the pu- 
pil, and thus conceive of the meaning that 
every question and every statement conveys to 
the pupil. The teacher must thus be as many 
persons as there are members of his class, 



A 



CHAPTER VIII. 

MEMORY — ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS. 

CTS of memory are a part of all cognitive 
operations of mind, except those of intui- 
tive perception. Memory is important with 
reference both to obtaining knowledge, and to 
retaining it. 

How shall the memory be improved ? By 
exercise. We acquire power to remember by 
remembering. The more the mind remembers, 
the more it is able to remember. 

Memory depends upon attention. The mind 
seldom remembers an incident or thought to 
which it pays little attention. The first thing 
to be done in order to remember a thing, is to 
fix the attention upon it. Thus it appears that 
while we are gaining power of attention, we are 
indirectly acquiring power of memory. 



do Hand-Book on Teaching. 

In the next place, we must understand a state- 
ment or a truth, in order to remember it. Take 
a sentence which you do not understand, and it 
will be very difficult to commit it to memory. 
When you have a clear view of the meaning of 
the sentence, you can easily remember it. 

Memory was given us to remember what we 
know — not what we do not know. Hence, 
the attempt to commit to memory what is not 
understood, is a perversion of this important 
power. When children are compelled to com- 
mit to memory forms of sentences which convey 
no meaning to their minds, they are not using 
the power for the end for which it was given, 
viz., to retain that which we know. Clear see- 
ing is a condition of remembering. 

There must, in the next place, be an effort to 
remember. As we walk by trying to walk, so 
we remember by trying to remember. In at- 
tempting to commit written language to mem- 
ory, the effort should be made to repeat it after 
a single perusal. It should be read no more 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 6i 

times than are absolutely necessary to the end 
in view. 

Earnest efforts should be made to remember 
every fact worth remembering, that comes to 
our knowledge. That which is perfectly com- 
mitted to memory, does not, so to speak, occupy 
any space in the mind. The capacity of the 
mind to receive and retain new facts is not less- 
ened, but enlarged. 

Many valuable items of knowledge are placed 
within our reach, which, for lack of attention, do 
not form any part of our permanent knowledge. 

That which has been stored in the memory, 
should be frequently reviewed. The more fre- 
quently a thought is recalled to the mind, the 
more permanent will be its lodgement there. 
Hence we should think over what we have read 
and heard, that it may be indelibly fixed in the 
memory. 

While the memory should not be exercised 
with words without meaning, the power of 
repeating with verbal exactness sentences that 



02 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

are understood should be acquired. It is often 
important to remember not only the thoughts of 
a writer, but the manner in which he expresses 
them. Power to quote beautiful and impressive 
passages from authors should be possessed. 
Power to quote the sacred Scriptures accurately 
should be possessed. 

The memory should be trusted ; that is, when 
we have obtained complete possession of a 
thought, we should not rely on memoranda and 
arbitrary associations to recall it. The memory 
will be faithful to us just in proportion as it is 
trusted. 

Many lessen their power of remembering, by 
using written memoranda. A lawyer in full 
practice has numerous engagements with his 
clients, and at the courts. It is common to 
keep a memorandum book for these engage- 
ments. Some, however, have .a more excellent 
way. They trust their memories. One of the 
foremost living lawyers in the United States, 
never keeps a written memorandum of his en- 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 63 

gagements, and never fails to meet them. Use 
your memory and not your tablets. 

All forms of artificial memory should be avoid- 
ed. The systems of mnemonics which are often 
urged upon the students, interfere with the natural 
laws of the mind, that is, cause it to remember in 
a way different from the natural way — the way 
in which it was made to remember. They all 
proceed upon the principle of association — for 
the most, associating thoughts to be remem- 
bered with visible objects. For example, you 
wish to remember certain dates : you associate 
one with the tree that stands before the door, 
another with the tea-kettle, another with some- 
thing else. When those objects are seen or 
remembered, the dates or thoughts associated 
with them are remembered. The two objects 
soon become indissolubly connected in the 
mind. When you wish to use mentally one set 
of them, the other is present also, distracting 
the attention which should be fixed on the 
objects or thoughts required to be used. 



64 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

There are natural connections between our 
thoughts, by means of which one thought sug- 
gests its related thought. The connections are 
called in the books, laws of association. These 
are facts pertaining to the succession of thought 
in the mind. The sight of a tree of pecuhar 
form, brings to mind a similar tree formerly seen 
by us. A beautiful description in poetry of a 
mother's love, calls to remembrance a similar 
description. Thus, one thought has a tendency 
to call to mind a similar thought. 

What practical use can be made of this men- 
tal fact ? Regard should be had to it in arrang- 
ing our knowledge. The knowledge acquired 
by us should be referred to separate heads. A 
fact pertaining to mathematics, should not be 
placed with facts pertaining to the care of one's 
health. As we acquire an item of knowledge, 
it should be placed where it belongs. The new 
thought should be placed with resembling 
thoughts. When we wish to recall it, we know 
where to look for it. Some thought of the class 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 65 

will come to the mind, and it may bring up the 
thought desired. We thus depend upon the 
natural relations or connections of thought, and 
not upon arbitrary connections. 

We see why a well arranged essay or dis- 
course is easily remembered. A well arranged 
essay is one in which the thoughts follow one 
another in their natural order-~according to 
their natural relations. 

You wish to remember a certain event. You 
cannot recall it. You remember the cause of 
it, and that brings to mind the event. The 
event sustained the relation of effect to cause. 
The cause, being present to the mind, suggested 
the effect. 

There are thus between our ideas, various con- 
nections that cause one idea to introduce other 
ideas to the mind. Ideas thus connected are 
said to be associated. The connection is called 
association of ideas. 

Association is not a faculty. It is a term 
expressive of the fact that our thoughts sustain 



o6 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

certain relations to one another, and succeed one 
another in the mind according to those relations. 

In questioning your pupils, you will have 
reference to this fact. You wish to cause your 
pupil to see a truth. You call his attention to 
an analogous truth. That may lead him to see 
the truth you wish him to see. He cannot 
remember a certain fact ; you will not tell it to 
him, for that would injure him. You set a re- 
sembling truth before his mind, and the forgot- 
ten truth is recovered. 

You will pursue a similar course with respect 
to other connections of thought. 




CHAPTER IX. 

MENTAL IMAGES ANALOGIES. 

/'^ AN you remember how the old school-hoube 
^^ in which you attended school, looked ? 
Have you a distinct and perfect recollection of 
its appearance within and without ? What do 
you do when you thus call to mind its appear- 
ance ? You think how it looks ; you form a 
mental image of it. It is impossible to define 
a mental image. It is a state of mind of which 
we are conscious. We know what we mean by 
a mental image ; but we cannot tell what we 
mean. Every one that has formed one, knows 
what the term mental image means. 

This form of memory, which is sometimes called 
Conception, and sometimes. Imagination, is a very 
important power. Much regard should be had to 
it in our efforts to train the minds of the young. 



68 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

. The first power which we should lead the 
young to exercise, is that of perceiving external 
and sensible objects.-^ Much knowledge is thus 
easily acquired. The more spqntaneously it is 
acquired, the better. It is, of course, desirable 
to retain what has been learned. The memory 
should be exercised. On what objects should 
it be chiefly exercised ? 

Those of which mental images can be formed. 
The act of remembering is quite different from 
the act of perceiving. If the child be required 
to remember sentences which he does not un- 
derstand, or dates and facts of which he can 
form no mental image, he will find it hard work 
— a great tax on the immature brain. Bat let 
him be told to think how a certain visible 
object looks, and he will at once proceed to 
form a mental image of it. The image may 
be made more perfect by questions respecting 
particular parts omitted in his descriptions 
of the object. The habit of thus forming 
distinct mental images, will have a great in- 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 69 

fiLience in aiding him to form habits of distinct 
thought. 

In studying geograph}^ sacred or profane, 
maps, outUne maps, of which he can form a dis- 
tinct mental image, should be furnished, and no 
other. Facts not picturable, facts which com- 
pose a large part of the letter-press of our 
school geographies, he should not be required 
to study. 

The teacher should have regard to this power 
in all his illustrations. The scenes he describes, 
should be so described as to cause a mental 
image to be formed. Truths connected with 
such scenes will be easily remembered. 

Histories for the young should contain only 
such scenes and incidents as are mentally 
picturable. Is it not remarkable that all the 
scenes in the life of the Saviour are thus pict- 
urable ? That precious life should form a por- 
tion of the permanent mental furniture of every 
mind. The scenes of Nazareth — of his labors 
while passing from city to city — of Gethsem- 



^o Hand-Book on Teaching. 

ane and Calvary, should be photographed in ^ 
every mind. 

Nearly allied to tMs image-making power is 
the power of perceiving analogies. Analogy is 
the basis of the most striking portion of figur- 
ative language, — similes, and metaphors. 

A man who makes abundant use of figura- 
tive language, is said to have a fine imagination ; 
because the language used calls into exercise 
the image-making power. We say that youth 
is the morning of life. There is a perception 
of a resemblance between youth and the morn- 
ing. The latter word wakens in the mind a 
mental image which gives intensity to the truth 
perceived. 

The foundation of every figure is a perceived 
resemblance between two objects. Hence it is 
very desirable that the power of perceiving 
analogies should be possessed by the teacher. 

Analogies are useful in furnishing vivacious 
illustrations. There is nothing to which the 
teacher has more frequent recourse. A truth 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 71 

that the pupil cannot see directly, when pointed 
out to him may be seen by him in the light 
of an analogous truth. 

Hence, the teacher should exercise his mind 
in perceiving analogies. It may be well for the 
teacher to make a collection of striking analo- 
gies met with in reading ; but it will be still 
better for him to keep his mind awake to per- 
ceive the analogies between facts and principles 
of the physical world, and those of the moral 
world. The celebrated John Foster, author of 
" Decision of Character," and other able works, 
was regarded as a master of imagery. He was, 
as we learn from his journal, constantly on the 
watch for analogies. Whenever a striking ob- 
ject or incident met his view, he inquired what 
analogous moral truth it suggested. 

Numerous analogies have been perceived, and 
there are many more that have not been per- 
ceived. The more we know of nature, the wider 
is the field for the perception of analogies ; the 
wider the field of illustration of nioral truth. 



CHAPTER X. 

IMPORTANCE OF A KNOWLEDGE OF DUTY. 

nr^HE mind was made to acquire knowledge. 
The most important of all knowledge is 
a knowledge of duty — the knowledge of what 
is right. 

That we are to do what is right, is a self-evi- 
dent truth. Some have professed to doubt this, 
or rather have attempted, but without success, 
to prove that we ought to do right. They 
have said we ought to do right because it pro- 
motes happiness — our own happiness and the 
happiness of others. The question that still 
remains to be answered is. Why ought we to 
promote happiness ? It may be said, *' Because 
it is the will of God." 

" Why ought we to do the will of God ? " " Be- 
cause he is our Creator and Benefactor." 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 73 

" Why ought we do the will of our Creator 
and Benefactor ? " *' Because it is right." No 
other answer can be given. We should believe 
a true proposition because it is true. No one 
thinks of demanding any reason for believing 
that which is true. If it is unreasonable to de- 
mand a reason for believing what is true, it is 
equally unreasonable to demand a reason for 
doing what is right. 

Parents and teachers often err by making an 
impression upon the young, that they should do 
right, because happiness will thereby be secured, 
and that they should not do wrong, because 
punishment will follow. 

It is lawful to have respect to the recompense 
of reward. The consequences of sin are set 
forth in the Bible to deter us from wrong-doing. 
But rewards and punishments are not the 
grounds of our obligation to do right. Suppose 
no pain were to follow the commission of theft, 
robbery, or murder, would our obligation to re- 
frain from theft, robbery, or murder, cease .'^ 



74 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

Suppose there were no recompense of reward, 
should we be freed from the obligation to speak 
the truth, and to deal honestly with our fellow- 
men ? 

The child should be taught that it was made 
to do right — that no reason is required for doing 
right. This regard for the right for its own 
sake, should lie at the foundation of the moral 
character. 

It is most important that we have correct 
views of duty. We must know our duty before 
we can do it. 

A man purposes to take a journey to a dis- 
tant city. He acquaints himself with the local- 
ity of that city and with the means of reaching 
it. If he does not know where the city is, what 
road to take, and what means of travel to em- 
ploy, his efforts to perform the journey will not 
be crowned with success. In travelling, accu- 
rate knowledge is the condition of wise action. 
No matter how great the traveller s desire to 
reach the city, and no matter how energetig 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 75 

his efforts, if they are not directed by accurate 
knowledge, they will be in vain. 

An engineer is employed to build a bridge. 
He must be acquainted with the strength of 
the materials, and the strain to which they will 
be exposed. If he is ignorant of these things, 
he w^ill be certain to fail in erecting a stable 
bridge. His action must be directed by ade- 
quate knowledge, or it will be in vain. 

It is known to every one, that if the line of 
gravity fall without the base, the structure will 
fall. Let a man be ignorant of this law of gravity, 
and thereby fail to obey it, and his building will 
fall. He may plead ignorance of the law; but 
nature is inexorable. The violation of physical 
law will be followed by its penalty. The ruins 
of the building will testify to the inflexibleness 
of nature's laws. 

Now if in all these cases accurate knowledge 
is a necessary condition of wise and efficient 
action, it is reasonable to conclude that the 
same will be true where duty is concerned. In 



'j6 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

keeping with this, is the stress laid in the Bible, 
upon knowledge of the truth. 

It may be asked, Is it not sufficient if a man 
desires to do right, and intends to do right t 
Yes ; provided he does right. The law requires 
perfect obedience, perfect holiness, perfect con- 
formity to the character of God. The com- 
mand does not say that we should desire to 
obey the commandments, and intend to obey 
them — it commands us to obey them. As we 
must know them in order to obey them, the 
duty to obey them involves the duty of know- 
ing what they are. 

We see the error of those who say it is of no 
consequence what a man believes, if his prac- 
tice is right. We have seen that his practice 
cannot be right if his belief is not right. 

But, says one, He is perfectly sincere, though 
he is in error. If he honestly believes he is 
right, will not his sincerity make him right } 
Many are inclined to answer this question in 
the affirmative. 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 'J'J 

Suppose a man on a journey becomes bewil- 
dered, and thinks he is going east when, in 
reahty, he is going west. He is perfectly sin- 
cere in the belief that he is going in the right 
direction : will his sincerity in error change the 
points of the compass ? Will the sincerity in 
error, that causes him to think he is going east 
when he is going west, bring him to the place 
which he desires to visit ? 

Are God's moral laws, which are a transcript 
of his nature, less unchangeable than his phys- 
ical laws ? Christ says, " Heaven and earth 
shall pass away, but not one jot or tittle of the 
law shall fail." 

It is granted that sincerity in error may lessen 
the guilt of want of conformity to the law ; but 
it cannot change wrong to right, or be accepted 
in place of obedience. God's word nowhere 
gives the slightest intimation that such will be 
the case. 

We thus see the supreme importance of an 
accurate knowledge of duty. 



CHAPTER XL 

CONSCIENCE. 

T T OW do we acquire a knowledge of duty ? 
^ I. By direct perception, or intuitively. 
2. By inference. 3. From Divine revelation. 
The mind is endowed with an original capacity 
for seeing that some actions are right and 
others, wrong, just as it is endowed with an 
original capacity for seeing that some proposi- 
tions are true and some, false. The mind has 
an intuitive perception that some actions are 
right. Let a man be in danger of drowning. 
A stranger rescues him. The mind sees that 
the act was a right act. If it be asked, what is 
a right act ? no answer can be given except that 
it is one that ought to be performed. Right is 
a simple idea incapable of analysis and of 
definition. 



Hand-Eook on Teaching. 79 

In simple cases, we intuitively perceive what 
is right. In other cases, we have not a direct 
perception. You see one gathering corn in a 
cornfield. You do not know whether the act is 
right or not. You learn that the man is the 
owner of the cornfield. Then you know that he 
is doing right. The perception that he is doing 
right, is conditioned on the knowledge that he 
is the owner of the corn. 

You learn that the man is gathering corn 
without the consent or knowledge of the owner. 
You see that he is doing wrong. Your percep- 
tion that he is doing wrong, is conditioned on 
your knowledge of the facts above stated. 

The perceptions of the mind in regard to the 
right are either direct or indirect. In acquir- 
ing a knowledge of duty, the mind proceeds 
just as it proceeds in acquiring a knowledge 
of geology or of politics. Its first perceptions 
in every department of knowledge are direct or 
intuitive perceptions. From the facts or truths 
thus learned, it infers other truths. A clear 



So Hand-Book on Teaching. 

perception of the fact that the mind, in gaining 
a knowledge of duty, proceeds in the same man- 
ner as in acquiring other kinds of knowledge, 
will remove many difficulties. 

If the mind acquires a knowledge of duty 
just as it acquires other kinds of knowledge, it 
follows that it may make mistakes in regard to 
duty, just as it may make mistakes in regard 
to other subjects. The human mind is not in- 
fallible. It is liable to err. 

It may be said that conscience makes known 
to us our duty. Very crude notions respecting 
conscience prevail in many minds. One cause 
of this is the figurative language which has 
been used in this connection. 

What is meant by the expressions, " Con- 
science makes known to us our duty ? '' " Con- 
science tells me I ought to do this ?'' In these 
sentences, conscience is personified. What is the 
thought literally expressed ? What is meant by 
the expression, " Conscience tells me that I ought 
to attend Church ? " I perceive — see — that I 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 8i 

ought to attend Church ; my mind sees that I 
ought to attend Church. 

What is meant by the expression, " His con- 
science troubles him ? " He feels uncomfort- 
able in consequence of having done wrong. 

What are the dictates of conscience ? The 
mind's perception of duty. 

What is meant by obedience to conscience ? 
Doing what one thinks is right. A man follows 
the dictates of his conscience when he does 
what he thinks is right. Is he always to obey 
conscience? Is a man always to do what he 
thinks is right, or may he sometimes do what 
he thinks is wrong .? 

Does a man always do right when he obeys his 
conscience ? in other words, does he always do 
right when he thinks he does right ? Does 
thinking a thing to be right make it right ? 

May conscience be perverted, or are its dic- 
tates infallibly correct ? In other words, may 
the mind make mistakes in regard to duty, or 
is it infallible in its perceptions of duty ? 



82 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

May a man do wrong while obeying the dic- 
tates of conscience ? Or, may a man do wrong 
when he is doing what he thinks is right ? Does 
the Hindoo mother do right in casting her in- 
fant into the Ganges ? Did Paul do right when 
he persecuted the followers of Christ? He 
verily thought he was doing God service. 

Suppose a man thinks he ought to kill an 
opposer of Christ's cause ; suppose he really 
thinks that it is God's will that he should put 
an end to that opposition by taking the op- 
poser's life ; would it be right for him to take 
his life ? By taking his life, he would be obey- 
ing his conscience ; would he do right in obey- 
ing his conscience ? 

Suppose he honestly thinks that it is God's 
will that he should take the opposer's life ; but, 
from tenderness of heart, or through fear of the 
gallows, he refrains from doing what he believes 
to be the will of God ; would he do right in thus 
refusing to obey his conscience ? 

A man in the circumstances supposed would 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 83 

do wrong whichever way he might act. He 
has brought himself into this dilemma, by failing 
to acquire an accurate knowledge of duty. He 
must avoid such a dilemma, by gaining right 
views of duty. The mind should be most care- 
fully trained to right perceptions of duty. That 
the soul be without knowledge, the knowledge 
of God and of duty, is not good. 

Conscience is said to be the voice of God in 
the soul. From this figurative language, some 
have drawn the literal conclusion that its dic- 
tates must be infallibly correct. The voice of 
God, it is said, can never give a false utterance. 

The difficulty here lies in the drawing a 
literal conclusion from a figurative premise. 
Change the figurative into literal language, and 
liability to error is removed — the unsoundness 
of the conclusion is seen. God has given the 
mind the power of perceiving the difference 
between right and wrong — of acquiring a 
knowledge of duty; therefore its perceptions 
in regard to duty are infallible. Every one 



84 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

can see that the conclusion does not follow from 
the premises. 

What is conscience ? What is meant when 
it is said that a man is endowed with con- 
science ? Simply that God has given the mind 
the power to perceive duty, and has caused it 
to feel happy when it does right, and unhappy 
when it does wrong. These are the facts of 
the case. Conscience, or the moral faculty, 
is the mind's power of perceiving duty and 
obligation. 

Is conscience an original power of the soul, 
or is it implanted by education ? In other 
words, is the mind endowed at its creation with 
a power to perceive the difference between' 
right and wrong — a power to be developed in 
due time ? Is not conscience an original power 
of the soul, as much as memory is an original 
power ? 

Does not the difference of opinion in respect 
to what is right and what is wrong, show that 
there is no original and eternal distinction 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 85 

between right and wrong ? Acts that in some 
countries are regarded as right, in others are 
regarded as wrong. 

We admit the facts, but reject the inference 
sometimes drawn. If differences of opinion in 
regard to duty, show that there is no original 
distinction between right and wrong, then dif- 
ferences of opinion respecting matters of busi- 
ness and science, show that there is no original 
difference between truth and error. 

The Scriptures every-where assume that there 
is an essential and eternal distinction between 
right and wrong actions. 

What is meant by the cultivation of con- 
science ? When is the conscience cultivated ? 

When the mind is subjected to a course of 
discipline adapted to cause it to have accurate 
perceptions of duty, and to act in accordance 
with those perceptions. 




CHAPTER XII. 

CULTIVATION OF CONSCIENCE. 

T T is impossible to over-estimate the import- 
ance of cultivating the power to perceive 
and perform duty. The performance of duty is 
the sole business of man for time and for eter- 
nity. How can conscience be cultivated ? It 
can be cultivated as a perceptive power. The 
mind can be exercised in perceiving duty, and 
the more carefully it is thus exercised, the more 
accurate will be its perceptions. 

As a large part of our duty is learned from 
"ihe Bible, it follows that conscience must be 
improved by the study of the Bible. The Bible 
is a directory of duty. All its revelations have 
reference to man's duty. Its doctrines are the 
foundation of precepts for the regulation of 
man's conduct. There is, in the Scriptures, no 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 87 

ground for the distinction between the doctrinal 
and the practical, as that distinction is com- 
monly made. The doctrines of the Bible are 
the principles from which the rules of duty are 
derived. We must know the doctrines, in order 
to know the duties springing from them. For 
example, the doctrine of the divinity of Christ 
is the ground of our duty to adore him. If we 
did not know that he is divine, we could not 
know that it is our duty to adore him. 

The doctrine of God's justice is the principle 
whence the duty of submission to his govern- 
ment is drawn. There is not a single doctrine 
in the Bible that is not the foundation of some 
duty. 

We are thus cultivating our capacity for per- 
ceiving duty — cultivating our consciences as 
perceptive power, when we study the Bible. 

As we need the illuminating influences of the 
Holy Spirit, prayer should always accompany 
the study of the word. 

The sense of obligation to do our duty may 



88 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

be strengthened. Our perceptions of right are 
naturally accompanied by a perception and feel- 
ing of our obligation to do it. Or perhaps we 
should say that our obligation to do right is 
involved in our perception of right. 

This sense of obligation is strengthened by 
doing what we see to be right. If we see that 
we ought to do a thing, and refuse to do it, our 
sense of obligation is weakened. If we perse- 
vere in acting contrary to our convictions of 
duty, our sense of obligation will be lost. There 
are those who have been so disobedient to the 
law of rectitude, that they have scarcely any 
sense of obligation. 

They look upon duty with indifference, and 
violate it without remorse. These are they who 
are " past feeling," whose consciences are seared 
as with an hot iron. They have no sense of 
obligation to do duty, and no feeling of remorse 
when it has been neglected. 

You have heard this expression in prayer, 
" Make our consciences quick and tender ; " /. ^., 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 89 

cause our minds to have prompt and accurate 
perceptions of duty, and to feel deeply our 
obligation to do it. 

We shall have ''a good conscience," just in 
proportion as we strive accurately to know, and 
faithfully to perform our duty. 

How shall one avoid having a perverted con- 
science ? To have a perverted conscience, is to 
have wrong views of duty. One can avoid hav- 
ing a perverted conscience by acquiring correct 
views of duty. 

A man is sometimes spoken of as being con- 
scientiously wrong. He thinks he is under 
obligation to do a thing when he is not. He 
has wrong views of duty. 

The expression, **an appeal to the con- 
science," is often used. What is meant by it ? 

Strictly speaking, it means setting befou. the 
mind truths adapted to awaken a deeper sense 
of obligation to perform certain duties, or of 
remorse for wrong-doing. An appeal to the 
conscience is often confounded with an appeal 



90 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

to fear. The presentation of truths adapted to 
exercise the conscience, is one thing ; the pres- 
entation of truths adapted to awaken fear, is 
another thing. 

Direct and earnest, not to say severe, reproofs 
for wrong-doing, are often termed appeals to 
the conscience. Such reproofs are seldom wise. 
All reproof should be wisely given. The ob- 
ject of reproof is to convince the offender of 
his sin, and to lead him to repent of it. Abrupt 
reproof and fierce denunciation are not adapted 
to produce the ends desired. Unless the mind 
is in a peculiar state — a state of unusual sus- 
ceptibility — such addresses have a hardening 
effect. The mind instinctively puts itself in an 
attitude of resistance to the truth. Even when 
the mind is in a state of unusual susceptibility, 
there is a more excellent way. The most pun- 
gent and effective moral appeals are those dic- 
tated by love. 

On some occasions, Christ rebuked with 
great severity ; but this was not characteristic 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 91 

of his address to men. These instances were 
recorded not so much for our imitation as for 
warning to those whose characters are similar 
to the characters of those denounced by the 
meek and lowly Saviour. It is very rare that 
one can wisely utter a stern rebuke. 

What is meant by peace of conscience ? It 
is a certain state of the mind, and must be ex- 
perienced in order to be known. It follows 
right doing. God has so made the mind, that 
when we do right, a pleasant state of mind fol- 
lows, and when we do wrong, an unpleasant 
state of mind follows. We have no specific 
name for the state of mind, the feeling, which 
follows right doing. We have a specific name 
for the feeling which follows wrong-doing, \^iz., 
rerflorse. 

What is meant by a troubled conscience ? A 
man may be said to have a troubled conscience 
when his mind is in an uncomfortable state in 
consequence of having done wrong — when he 
is suffering from remorse. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

EFFECTS OF THE FALL ON THE FACULTIES. 

'^T /"E have thus far considered the oper- 
ations of the mind without reference 
to the disordered action occasioned by the 
fall. 

The question is sometimes asked, Were all 
the faculties of the mind depraved by the fall, 
or only the moral faculties ? Put the question 
in other words, and the answer will be less diffi- 
cult. Did the fall affect all the operations of 
the mind, or only those which relate to duty ? 
Do we see with our eyes less clearly, and hear 
with our ears less acutely, in consequence of 
Adam's sin ? Are the mental images we form, 
less perfect ? Are our perceptions of mathe- 
matical truths less accurate ? 

Is it clear that the power of the mind to per- 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 93 

form any of these operations, is directly lessened 
by the fall ? 

There are operations which have been af- 
fected by the fall, that is, by the condition of 
the mind produced by the first transgression. 
Our desires differ widely from what they would 
have been, had our nature remained as it was 
created. All the desires of the mind would 
have been holy ; now we know that many of 
them, to say the least, are sinful. The power 
of perceiving spiritual truth has been impaired. 
Our knowledge of God and of duty differs 
widely from that which the mind would have 
possessed, had it not been alienated from God. 
Sin has a tendency to lessen our capacity for 
the perception of divine truth ; to blind the 
mind, and to deaden our susceptibilities in view 
of it ; to harden the heart. The power of vo- 
lition, being directed by our desires, is of course 
affected. Our volitions are different from the 
volitions of a holy being. The prominent fact 
of native depravity is the alienation of the 



94 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

affections from God. The carnal mind is 
enmity to God, is not subject to the law of God, 
neither indeed can be. 

When it is said that the will is depraved, the 
meaning is that the volitions of the mind are 
sinful instead of holy. When it is said that the 
conscience is depraved, the meaning is that the 
minddoas not see moral ^truth accurately, or feel 
ia viev/ of it as it ought. 

The disorder of the mind in consequence of 
the fall, primarily affects its operations relating 
to spiritual truth and duty, and, secondarily, all 
the operations of the mind so far as they are 
dependent on, or are modified by, the operations 
relating to truth and duty. 

The general law of growth remains the 
same. Efforts at culture put forth in accord- 
ance with that law, will be in a measure 
successful notwithstanding the disordered or 
abnormal condition of the soul ; but they 
cannot remove that condition. Hence, a 
course of culture different from that which 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 95 

would be required by the unfallen mind, is 
necessary. 

The law of habit is not affected by the fall. 
Habits are formed by the repetition of acts. 
Since the fall, the habits formed are sinful. 
The law of formation remains the same — the 
habits widely differ. 

It follows from what has been said, that no 
methods of culture in accordance with the laws 
of mind as it was created, will produce a perfect 
man in Christ. 

Man was created with certain capabilities. 
What those capabilities are, we can see from 
the present condition of the mind — just as, from 
the ruins of a temple, we can infer its original 
structure and design. All the natural tenden- 
cies of the mind were then right. When they 
were developed into action, that action was right 
.action. The more the powers were exercised 
and improved, the greater their capacity for 
right action. 

Now, in the disordered condition of the mind, 



96 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

those capacities remain. When they are devel- 
oped into action, it is unholy action — unholy 
by positive transgression of God's law, or un- 
holy by defect. The element of love to God is 
wanting. 

Such being the case, it is clear that some- 
thing more than educational training as com- 
monly understood and practiced, is necessary to 
attain the true end of education — that of putting 
the mind in a condition to do what it was made 
to do. It will be seen that true education must 
have for its commencement, repentance toward 
God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. 
The Sunday-school teacher starts with the 
fundamental idea of education. The secular 
teacher must start from the sarhe idea, if he 
would reach the highest end of education. 




CHAPTER XIV. 



THE HEART. 



TV^ EEP thy heart with all diligence ; for out 
of it are the issues of life. Here is a 
divine precept which has reference to the culti- 
vation of a portion of our nature — the heart. 
What is meant by the heart : 

The terms head and heart are used to express 
two classes of mental operations, those relating 
to thought, and those relating to feeling. When 
we say, One has a heart, we mean that he has 
capacity for affection, that he has peculiar sus- 
ceptibilities of kindly and benevolent feeling. 
As the term is used in Scripture, it has refer- 
ence chiefly to the desires and affections, the 
emotive states that precede and determine vol- 
untary action. Our characters take the hue of 

our prevailing desires. Let us see why this is so. 

7 



98 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

Character is formed by action. Desires are 
the antecedents and determiners of voluntary 
actions. 

You know what it is to will — what a volition 
is. Notice any vohtion that you have put forth, 
you will find that it was preceded by a desire. 
You will find that every act of volition is pre- 
ceded by a desire. 

It may be asked, " Do I never do what I do 
not desire to do ? I am sure I do many things 
which I do not wish to do — which I had rather 
not do.'' 

" Give an illustration. State something that 
you have done — some act of will that you did 
not desire to put forth ? " 

" When I was a child I did not wish to go to 
school, but I went." 

*' You walked to school, I presume ; you were 
not forcibly taken there. You willed to go, or 
your legs would not have taken you there. It 
is true that you did not desire to go to school, 
but you desired to escape the punishment which 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 99 

would have followed your refusal to go. There 
was a desire preceding the act of will. You 
desired to stay at home, but the desire to avoid 
punishment was stronger than the desire to stay 
at home, and caused you to will to go.'' 

The character of our desires determines the 
character of our actions. If our desires are 
sinful, our actions will be sinful. If our desires 
are holy, our voluntaiy actions will be holy. 

The culture of our desires, therefore, becomes 
a very important part of our educational culture. 

What can be done in this matter ? Our de- 
sires are not voluntary. We cannot awaken a 
desire to do good, by an effort of will. To 
awaken a desire, the object adapted to awaken 
it, must be set before the mind, either in reality 
or in imagination. 

This is true of all the emotive states of mind. 
The object adapted to awaken them must be 
placed before the mind. To awaken the emo- 
tion of beauty, a beautiful object must be 
brought before the mind. 

LofC. 



100 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

We can cultivate proper desires by placing 
the objects of them before the mind. We can 
turn our attention away from objects adapted 
to awaken unholy desires, and can turn them 
toward objects adapted to awaken innocent and 
holy desires. No other objects should be looked 
at or contemplated by us. 

Desires are strengthened by gratifying them 
— by acting in accordance with their prompt- 
ings. You have some desire for knowledge. 
By proceeding at once to acquire knowledge, 
the desire for knowledge will be increased. 

Your sympathies are excited in view of suffer- 
ing, and you desire to relieve it — to do good. 
Enter at once on the work of doing good, and 
the desire will be strengthened. The teacher 
feels some desire to benefit his class : he makes 
an attempt to do so, and finds the desire increas- 
ing in strength. The more he does for the 
benefit of his class, the stronger will be his de- 
sire to benefit them. 

What has been said respecting the desires, 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 



lOI 



applies to the affections — the capacity for form- 
ing attachments. We have an affection for one, 
when we feel complacency in view of his good 
qualities, and a desire to promote his well-being. 
The more we do to promote the happiness of 
the object of our affection, the stronger our 
affection will become. 




CHAPTER XV. 

HABITS TO BE FORMED. 

TT ^E have given hints respecting mental 
and moral growth which, we trust, may 
awaken thought on the part of teachers, and 
thus prepare them for their work. Their work 
is to induce their pupils to think ; hence, they 
must think themselves. Let us now consider 
what are the leading habits which one needs to 
form in order to become a truly educated man, in 
order to be fitted for the work given him to do. 
First, he wants habits of attention to objects 
around him. He should be on the watch to see 
every thing which comes within range of his 
vision. He must have the habit of accurate 
observation. In other words, he must have the 
habit of attention. The first thing to be done 
is to form the habit of attention. 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 103 

In the next place, he should have power of 
seeing things, of perceiving material truth and 
spiritual truth clearly. He must not confound 
things which seem to be alike but which are 
very different. He should form habits of clear 
perception — of nice discrimination. 

He must have the power of remembering 
what he has learned, and of having his knowl- 
edge at command when wanted. He should 
have a memory, susceptible, retentive, and ready. 

He should be able to infer accurately. He 
should see the connections of different truths. 
No truth should seem to him isolated. He 
should have the power of inferring, that is, of 
reasoning easily and correctly. 

He should be possessed of a sound judgment, 
that is, should be able to draw correct inferences 
when the facts are complicated and apparently 
conflicting. 

He should be a man of taste — a perceiver 
and admirer of beauty. 

He should have a good conscience, that is, 



I04 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

he should have clear perceptions of duty, and 
habits of acting in accordance with those 
perceptions. 

His desires should be innocent and holy. 

His affections should be fixed on pure and 
holy objects. 

His sympathies should be lively and tender, 
and his benevolence, strong and habitual. 

He should have habits of prompt and ener- 
getic and persevering action — or, as some would 
phrase it, he should have a strong will. He 
should know how to make up his mind, and, hav- 
ing made it up, to adhere to his decision. 

Such are some of the prominent traits of 
character at which the educator should aim. It 
is not necessary that his efforts should be put 
forth in the order just mentioned. He should 
have them distinctly in view at all times. In 
every interview with his pupils,- whether in the 
class-room or elsewhere, he can do something 
toward the formation of one or more of the 
habits above mentioned. 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 105 

His immediate object may be to make the 
pupil understand a given lesson : in his efforts 
to that end, he may incidentally exercise, and 
thus cultivate the power of clear seeing, of 
remembering, of inferring, of perceiving beauty 
and rectitude, of controlling the desires, and of 
fixing his affections on things above. 

The teacher in this way aims at the forma- 
tion of character, which is the summation of 
one's habits. 

These traits of character can all be developed 
without any regard to revealed truth. The 
natural laws of growth are the same to the 
fallen and the unfallen. But all these traits, all 
these ends, are most readily secured when 
we seek first the kingdom of God and his 
righteousness. 





CHAPTER XVL 

THE TRUE IDEA OF RELIGION. 

'' I ^HE object of education is to form a per- 
^ feet man. To this end, evangelic culture 
is necessary. A man must become a Christian, 
in order that he may become a perfect man. 

The main object of the Sunday-school teacher 
is to bring his pupils to Christ — to cause them 
to become Christians — to cause them to lead a 
religious life. Hence, it is necessary to have a 
clear idea of the religious life. A great deal is 
thought, felt, and said about religion by many 
who have no clear idea of the meaning of the 
term ; in other words, have no clear idea of 
what religion is. 

What is religion ? The term is used in sev- 
eral senses. When the question, " What is the 
Mahometan religion ? " is asked, the meaning 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 107 

is, " What is the system of doctrines and prac- 
tices taught by the false prophet ? " 

When the term natural religion is used, we 
mean that knowledge of God and of duty which 
can be acquired without the aid of revelation — 
without the Bible. 

When it is said of a man that he has not 
much religion, the meaning is, that the man 
spoken of is not greatly under the influence of 
religious truth — that his actions and feelings 
are not much in accordance with the precepts 
of Christianity. 

The Christian religion is that system of doc- 
trines and duties, of which Christ is the author. 

When one says, " I want religion,'' he means, 
I want to become a religious man. When a 
Christian says, ''I want more religion," he 
means that he desires to have his life more 
strictly conformed to the law of Christ. 

Religion is not an entity — something exist- 
ing apart from a being capable of becoming 
religious. It is a term used to express a cer- 



io8 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

tain condition of the soul, a condition viewed 
apart from the actions of any individual soul. 

The two questions, What is religion ? and, 
What is a religious man ? point in the same 
direction. The latter question is more easily 
answered. 

A religious man is one whose character and 
actions are conformed to the will of God — con- 
formed to the will of God in all things. A 
perfectly religious man is one whose character 
and conduct are perfectly conformed to the will 
of God. A man is a religious man just in pro- 
portion as his character and conduct are con- 
formed to the will of God. 

This is not in accordance with the idea 
entertained by many. They look upon certain 
acts as religious acts, and they regard one who 
performs those acts, as a religious man. They 
regard one who performs those acts with great 
zeal, as a very religious man. They regard 
attendance upon religious meetings, the reading 
of the Bible, efforts to save men, as peculiarly 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 109 

religious acts, and regard a man as religious, in 
proportion as he abounds in the performance 
of those acts. 

Now, it is true that those acts are religious 
acts. No man can be a reUgious man, without 
performing such acts. But those acts are not 
all the acts that properly comiC under the head 
of religious. 

There is ground for the distinction usually 
made, of secular and rehgious acts. It is con- 
venient to denominate some acts as secular, and 
some as religious ; but the latter include the 
former. The former, as well as the latter, are 
included in the duties to be performed by a 
religious man. A religious man is one who 
does the will of God. It is God's will that 
every one should be honest, and free from vice, 
and should practice all the duties he owes to his 
fellow-men. These duties are duties due to 
God as well as to men. 

There is a distinction between the duties per- 
taining to morality, and the duties pertaining to 



no Hand-Book on Teaching. 

religion. A man can be a moral man without 
being a religious man ; but he cannot be a re- 
ligious man without being a moral man. The 
duties of religion include those of morality ; for 
it is God's will that a man shall deal honestly 
with his neighbor, as truly as it is his will that a 
man should exercise adoration and gratitude. 

Religious duties thus have relation to all the 
actions of life. Paul saw this truth when he 
said, ^^ Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever 
ye do, do all to the glory of God," that is, do 
all in accordance with the will of God. We can 
promote his glory only by doing his will. 

To grow in grace, to make progress in the 
divine life, is not merely to become earnest in 
prayer and zealous for the conversion of sin- 
ners. It is to grow in conformity to the divine 
will in all things — to form habits of more per- 
fect obedience to the divine law. " The path of 
the just is as the shining light which shineth 
more and more unto the perfect day." 

Conversion is the commencement of a relig- 



Hand-Book on Teaching. i 1 1 

ious life. By nature, the tendencies of the soul 
lead it away from God. The carnal, that is, the 
alienated, depraved mind, is not subject to the 
law of God, neither indeed can be. A change 
in the condition of the soul must be wrought 
by divine power, before the soul can render any 
true and acceptable obedience to his will. This 
change is conversion. It is the commencement 
of a life of obedience to God, a life of duty. 

Duties are various, and relate to every por- 
tion of life. There are the duties of industry, 
honesty, sympathy, self-denial, relaxation, sleep, 
prayer, praise, benevolence, submission, etc., etc. 
God's will is to regulate all our thoughts and 
feelings, and words and actions. It is God's 
will that we should be holy as he is holy. 




CHAPTER XVII. 

THEORIES OF CONVERSION. 

/~^ ONVERSION, or regeneration, is that mys- 
^■^ terious change wrought in the soul by the 
Holy Spirit — a change that renders right action 
possible on the part of the soul. 

*' The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou 
hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell 
whence it cometh and whither it goeth. So is 
every one that is born of the Spirit." 

It is here clearly stated that the act of regen- 
eration by the Spirit cannot be understood by 
men. That it has taken place in any soul, is 
known only by the results. " By their fruits ye 
shall know them.'' 

Men are disposed to form theories of conver- 
sion, or rather to devise formulas which, they 
think, are followed by the Divine Agent in his 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 113 

glorious work. The process, as viewed by some, 
is somewhat as follows : a sudden awakening 
from indifference to solicitude on the subject of 
religion ; a season, more or less protracted, of 
anxiety and distress— distress compounded of 
fear and remorse ; a sudden sense of hope and 
joy — a state of happiness not expected to be 
permanent. A soul that has passed through 
these successive experiences, is regarded as con- 
verted. With those entertaining this view, an 
ability to relate " a good experience '' is the 
test of piety. 

Where such views prevail, " the experiences " 
related are nearly all of one type. Certain 
stereotype forms of expression come to be used. 
It is not intimated that deception or hypocrisy 
is used ; but every hopeful convert thinks his 
experience must conform to the expected type. 

It is remarkable that no such formula is found 
in Scripture. An account of several conver- 
sions is given ; but the process is in no case 
described, and, least of all, after the formula 



114 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

given above. The conversion of Zaccheus is 
given ; nothing is said about his awakening and 
his conviction. The state of his mind, which 
led him to express his purpose of making resti- 
tution and of practicing benevolence, showed 
that the great change had taken place. If he 
passed through a season of mental distress, the 
Holy Spirit has not recorded the fact. 

In the case of the jailer, fear was the first 
feeling awakened : it was doubtless followed by 
penitence ; but there could not have been any 
long continued mental distress, because he was 
baptized a short time after he asked the ques- 
tion, '' What shall I do to be saved ? " 

In Paul's case, there was a miraculous appear- 
ance of the Lord. The impression was imme- 
diate and powerful, and it would seem that 
submission to the divine will, or a willingness 
to perform the divine will, was the immediate 
result of the knowledge of the presence of 
Christ. " Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ? " 
That deep feeling of some kind was produced, 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 115 

appears from the fact that for some time he did 
neither eat nor drink. 

The Scriptures, then, do not authorize the 
construction of a formula in accordance with 
which the process of conversion must go on. 

There are, however, some points on which 
the experience of all truly converted souls 
agree. All are convinced that they are lost 
sinners, that they cannot save themselves. 
This conviction is attended with great anxiety 
and mental distress on the part of some, and 
with very little on the part of others. * 

In some cases, the sense of ruin is suddenly 
followed by a conviction of safety through 
Christ, when all anxiety is removed. In other 
cases, the gradual calmness that steals over the 
mind as it sees the Gospel mode of salvation, is 
followed, instead of being preceded, by hope. 
In some cases, the process, so far as revealed in 
consciousness, seems to be carried on without 
much feeling. A young man in college had 
been skeptical. He read Butler's Analogy, 



ii6 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

and was convinced of the truth of the Bible. 
He went to his rehgious teacher, and announced 
his desire to unite with the Church. His teacher 
questioned him, and could not learn that he had 
experienced any change, except from skepticism 
to a belief in Christianity. There was so little 
evidence of a heart-felt conviction of sin, so little 
evidence of feeling of any kind, that the teacher 
advised him to delay his purpose of making a 
profession of religion. 

At the end of three months he returned and 
renewed his application to be received into the 
Church. Further inquiries revealed a clearer 
perception of the way of salvation through 
Christ, but no more apparent feeling in con- 
nection with the truth. 

He was admitted to the Church, and became 
an able and successful minister of the Gospel. 

A man went to an evening meeting an un- 
awakened sinner. The sermon was from the 
text, '' Choose ye this day whom ye will serve." 
In closing his discourse, the preacher made an 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 117 

earnest appeal to the hearers to make the choice 
before leaving the house. He asked, "Who 
will make up his mind now to choose God for 
his portion.'^" As he asked this question, he 
saw a man rise from his seat and remain stand- 
ing till the discourse closed. The preacher 
supposed he rose through weariness, but learned 
that the rising was an unconscious reply to his 
question. He had made his choice. A con- 
sistent Christian life attested the reality of his 
conversion. 

If we form a particular theory of conversion, 
we shall direct our efforts to produce states of 
mind corresponding to our theory. We shall be 
guilty of the folly, if not the impiety, of pre- 
scribing the method to be pursued by the Spirit. 
Let us avoid all appearance of this folly. Con- 
version is God's work. Let us not dictate how 
It shall be carried on. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

CONDITIONS OF CONVERSION, AND FACTS CON- 
NECTED WITH IT. 

^T /"E have no reason to suppose that the 
Holy Spirit converts souls without the 
agency of the truth. So far as we know, a cer- 
tain amount of knowledge is a necessary con- 
dition of conversion. That He could instan- 
taneously change the heart, is, no doubt, true. 
He could cause the ripened grain to spring up 
instantaneously on the barren sand-hill, but he 
does not. He maketh the corn to grow, but 
it is by the use of means, and by using the 
known means, we can put in requisition the di- 
vine power, and thus secure a harvest. 

In like manner, he has appointed that certain 
means or conditions shall precede the exercise 
of converting power. 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 119 

One of these conditions is the possession of 
a certain amount of knowledge of religious 
truth. No one can believe on him of whom he 
has not heard — of whom he has no knowledge. 
There must be a certain amount of knowledge 
respecting God, his law, and in what way par- 
don can be had for transgressors. There must 
be some knowledge of the condition of the 
soul, its wants, and the method of supplying 
them. 

We find that all converted persons have some 
knowledge of these and their related topics. 
In some cases the knowledge is not very clear. 
Still, obscure as it may be, it is the basis of the 
soul's action. The clearer the views on these 
topics, the more clearly marked the conversion 
will be — -at least, it may be safely affirmed that 
this will generally be the case. 

It is the duty of the teacher to labor for the 
salvation of his pupils, for their conversion to 
God. This is the first step in the process by 
which the lost image of God shall be restored 



120 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

to the soul, and the soul thus prepared to enjoy 
him forever. 

In these labors, means should be wisely 
adapted to the end in view. The communica- 
tion of knowledge, and exhortations to action, 
form a part of the means to be used. These 
should come in a certain order. You would not 
exhort one to believe a proposition for which 
no evidence has been set before his mind. You 
would not call on a man to rejoice over a fact 
of which he is ignorant. You would not exhort 
him to repent, while he was ignorant of the 
meaning of the term repentance. 

A man must feel some interest in a subject, 
must feel some desire in relation to it, before he 
can put forth voluntary action in relation to it. 
Feeling of some kind, causing some form of 
desire, is the first thing to be awakened. Feel- 
ing can be produced by the ' presentation of 
truths adapted to awaken it. If you wish to 
awaken fear, you must set danger before the 
mind. If you wish to rouse a sinner to a sense 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 121 

of his danger, you must acquaint him with the 
truths which will cause him to see that he is in 
danger. If you wish to awaken hope, you must 
show him that there are grounds for hope. 

Knowledge is thus the condition of wise ac- 
tion. The teacher should therefore strive to 
give his pupil the knowledge necessary to rouse 
the mind to action, and to guide that action 
aright. By inculcating this knowledge, much 
can be done toward preparing the way for con- 
version. 

Let it not be said that all our efforts should 
tend directly to conversion — that our sole work 
is to testify repentance toward God and faith 
toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Some entertain 
this idea, and their efforts are for the most part 
confined to ringing the changes on the word 
repent. 

It is true that repentance and faith are the 
conditions of salvation. If a man exercises 
repentance and faith, he is saved. But duty to 
repent involves the duty ^f using all the means 



122 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

necessary to repentance. When, therefore, you 
would lead one to repent, you must first give 
him the necessary knowledge. You are not 
authorizing him to remain impenitent while you 
are teaching him that which he must know be- 
fore he can repent. 

What are some of the things a sinner must 
know in order that he may be converted ^ 

He must have some knowledge of the char- 
acter of God. The knowledge of God compre- 
hends all religious knowledge. If one knows 
all that he may know of God, he will have all 
the knowledge necessary to salvation — he will 
have all the knowledge needed to answer the 
question, What must I do to be saved ? 

Whenever, therefore, the teacher is aiding the 
pupil to acquire accurate knowledge respect- 
ing God, he is doing a very important work. 
He is laboring for the conversion of his pu- 
pil as truly as he who is pointing him to the 
cross. 

A knowledge of the law of God is necessary 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 123 

to conversion. By the law is the knowledge 
of sin ; that is, no one can be convicted of sin 
but by comparing his actions with the divine 
law. Unless he knows the law, he cannot know 
that he is a transgressor ; he can know that 
he is a transgressor only so far as he knows 
the law. 

Men are prone to entertain imperfect views 
of the law of God. They regard it as an arbi- 
trary restraint upon them. They regard its 
penalty as too severe. 

The teacher should take great pains to give 
the pupil right views of God's law. 

Rightly understood, it is far from being an 
unnecessary restraint on the actions of men. 
It does in no way interfere with human happi- 
ness. Its violation produces misery ; but the 
law itself is good, and adapted to promote the 
happiness of those who obey it. It is, when 
rightly understood, a series of rules by which 
the highest happiness of man can be secured. 
Consider it in detail, and you will find every 



124 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

precept adapted to promote happiness on the 
part of him who follows it. 

What does the law enjoin, that is a source of 
unhappiness in the performance ? The sum of 
the law is to love God with all the heart, and 
our neighbor as ourself. God is a being of 
infinite loveliness. Is it painful to love a 
worthy object ? Do we not find our highest 
happiness in love } Are we not happy just in 
proportion as our affections are exercised on 
worthy objects ? To love God with all the heart, 
is simply to be as happy as the constitution of 
our nature will allow. 




CHAPTER XIX. 

THE LAW OF HAPPINESS. 

A COUPLE of young men were, on a bright 
Sabbath morning, planning a pleasure ex- 
cursion for the day. They knew that they were 
about to spend the day in an improper manner. 
To silence their consciences, they began to 
argue for the correctness of their proposed 
course, though no one had stated any objections 
to it. '' God made us to be happy. He wishes 
us to consult our happiness — to do that which 
will make us happy,'' said one. 

''That is so," said the other; "I don't like 
those Christians that are not willing folks should 
be happy." 

It is true that God made men to be happy, 
and it is not true that those who resemble Christ 
are not willing that men should be happy. The 



126 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

desire for the happiness of others is one of their 
strongest desires. 

God made us to be happy, but he made us to 
be happy as men — not as devils nor as beasts. 
He has so constituted our nature, that we can 
be happy in the way which he has appointed, 
and in no other way. 

He has so made our nature, that we are 
happy when we do right. This is in accordance 
with our experience. To do right is to do the 
will of God, out of love to him. No man ever 
pursued a course of genuine right doing, and 
felt unhappy in consequence. A man may enter 
on a course of formal obedience, of constrained, 
unwilling obedience, and be far from happy in 
so doing. That cannot be said to be right 
doing. We do right when, under the prompt- 
ings of love, we conform to the right — the law 
of God. When this is done, enjoyment is the 
result. To do good, is to be happy. Every 
act of right-doing is attended with happiness. 
The more perfectly our conduct is conformed 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 127 

to the law of right, the greater will be our 
happiness. 

Benevolence is a source of happiness. Every 
act of benevolence is a right act, and, by the 
law above mentioned, is followed by happiness. 
But acts of benevolence differ from other acts 
of rectitude. There is a pecuHar happiness 
attendant upon deeds of benevolence. Hence 
this seeming paradox : the more a man devotes 
himself to the happiness of others, the happier 
he is. 

Our natural selfishness is so strong that it is 
difficult for us to believe this. Notwithstand- 
ing the law says, *' Thou shalt love thy neighbor 
as thyself," we think we can secure our happiness 
in a greater degree, by loving ourselves more 
than we love others, and by seeking our own 
and not the things of others. 

Experience shows that just in proportion as we 
have given ourselves unselfishly to the happiness 
of others, we have secured our own happiness. 

Self-denial is a source of happiness. This is 



128 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

a duty from which many shrink, saying, " This 
is a hard saying : who can bear it?'* 

The difficulty of performing a duty often 
arises from the state of our minds, and not from 
the nature of the duty. 

The mother denies herself many comforts 
that she may contribute to the comfort of her 
darling child. Is she less happy than she would 
have been had she consulted her own happiness 
instead of the happiness of her child ? Does 
not every true, loving parent find happiness in 
practicing self-denial for the sake of those he 
loves ? 

The higher and purer the love, the greater 
the enjoyment resulting from the exercise of 
self-denial. 

It is a mistake to suppose that self-denial is 
not a source of happiness. In truth, the exer- 
cise of true self-denial is attended with a higher 
enjoyment than is the performance of ordinary 
duties. It requires the presence of a higher 
degree of love than is required by ordinary 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 129 

duties, and, therefore, is attended with a higher 
degree of happiness. 

Acts of penance and self-torture are not acts 
of self-denial. God does not require us to af- 
flict ourselves by a painfully constrained obedi- 
ence to his will. The only constraint that he 
requires or approves is that of love. The love 
of Christ constraineth us. When this constrain- 
ing influence is felt, self-denial becomes a source 
of happiness. The men who, under the con- 
straining influence of the love of Christ, have, 
in accordance with his will, practiced the most 
self-denial, have been the happiest men. 

Faith in God is a source of happiness. There 
can no trial befall us to which the words of 
Christ, *' Have faith in God," do not minister 
consolation. In all circumstances in which we 
can be placed, obedience to this precept will 
increase our happiness. 

Faith is confidence in God. We know what 
confidence in a person is ; we know what it is 
to trust one. 



130 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

The confidence you repose in the affection 
and fidelity of your friend, is a great source of 
happiness to you. How much greater the hap- 
piness resulting from perfect confidence in the 
affection and fidelity of the All-perfect and Un- 
changeable God ! 

God made us to be happy, and has furnished 
abundant means to that end. So far as we are 
not happy, it is our own fault. This truth can 
be set before the mind with great variety of 
illustration. 

Duty is not a burden, nor a painful constraint. 
The utmost pains should be taken to have its 
true nature, and its relation to happiness, rightly 
understood. 





CHAPTER XX. 

CHRIST'S EXAMPLE. 

T ET US glance at some things in the exam- 
' pie of the great Sabbath-school Teacher. 
Christ never delivered set discourses. No 
brilliant harangue ever fell from his lips. His 
teachings were much more like the teachings 
in the Sunday-school, than like modern pulpit 
addresses. 

Christ never demanded that his instructions 
should be appreciated by those to whom they 
were addressed. He had but one object in view 
— the benefit of those he was teaching. No 
indication appears that he ever thought of 
the estimate his pupils would put upon his 
instructions. 

We desire to have our motives and efforts 
appreciated. We soon weary of laboring for 



132 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

those who cannot, or who do not appreciate our 
labors in their behalf. This is natural, but not 
Christ-like. Our duty to God does not depend 
upon the absence of stupidity and perverseness 
in men. Our duty to our pupils is to do them 
good. If they do not appreciate our efforts, 
and are not grateful, the greater need there is 
of effort on our part in their behalf. 

It is indeed difficult to labor earnestly for 
such pupils. But all duty is as difficult to an 
unsanctified heart as melody is difficult to an 
untuned harp. Melody is difficult in proportion 
as the instrument is out of tune, and duty is 
difficult in proportion as the heart is out of 
tune. 

More thought, . more sympathy, and more 
prayer is necessary when our pupils do not ap- 
preciate us. 

Let us have constant reference to the exam- 
ple of Christ. Christ was not provoked when 
his instructions were not only not appreciated, 
but were rejected. He endured the contradic- 



Haxd-Book on Teaching. 133 

tion of sinners, and maintained the calmness 
of Ids benevolent spirit, even when ''they 
laughed him to scorn." 

The Sabbath-school teacher often comes in 
contact with the wayward. It is easy to say, 
*' If they will not be taught, they must take the 
consequences." Christ did not take that atti- 
tude toward the persons to whom his lessons 
were given. 

Sometimes his instructions were well received. 
Sometimes the common people heard him gladly. 
Sometimes all present wondered at the gra- 
cious w^ords tha.t proceeded out of his mouth. 
Sometimes he was met by captious ques- 
tions, and efforts to pervert his instructions to 
his ruin. 

Teachers have a similar experience. They 
meet with some willing minds whom it is a 
pleasure to teach. They meet with some who 
have no desire to learn, and who wilfully resist 
all efforts put forth for their good. They must 
possess their souls in patience. 



134 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

It may be well to consider how they have 
treated God's dealings with them. To how 
many lessons from his providence and his 
word they have been utterly inattentive ! How 
many loving influences they have resisted ! 
God did not lose patience with them, and 
leave them to follow the devices and desires 
of their own hearts. Let teachers not get out 
of patience with their wayward pupils, and 
give them over to themselves and to the 
devil. It is by patient continuance in well- 
doing that we secure the sublime rewards of 
eternity. 

Christ sometimes felt sad in view of the fail- 
ure of his benevolent eflbrt. " O Jerusalem, 
Jerusalem, . . . how often would I have gathered 
thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her 
chickens under her wings, and ye would not ! " 
While he thus wept over the impending fate of 
those whom his instructions would have saved, 
he did not relax his efforts. He was sad, but 
not discouraged. He kept at work till he had 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 135 

finished the work that his Father had given him 
to do. 

We may feel sad, but we must not be discour- 
aged. We have reasons for sadness such as 
Christ never had. Perfect wisdom was his 
guide, and a perfect character gave weight to 
his instructions. We are conscious of great 
defects in our teaching, and of great defects in 
our characters. The teacher who sees the work 
to be done, is led to exclaim with Paul, "Who 
is sufficient for these things ? '' 

One of the modes of improving as a teacher 
is to strive to become Christ-like in character. 

Christ retired to a mountain, and continued 
all night in prayer to God. The objects for 
which he prayed are not mentioned. We may 
safely infer that his prayers had especial refer- 
ence to his work. His recorded prayers have 
reference to his disciples and their work. 

Our prayers may have too exclusive reference 
to ourselves— our own spiritual interest. A 
larger portion of our prayers should be in- 



136 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 



tercessory. There can be no selfishness in 
prayer for the benefit of others. The more 
a teacher prays for his pupils, the deeper will 
be his interest, and the more earnest his efforts 
in their behalf. 




CHAPTER XXI. 

THE GREAT QUESTION. 

'T^HE faithful teacher will have pupils com- 
ing to him with the great question, *' What 
must I do to be saved ? " It is the great ques- 
tion, and one that it is often difficult to answer. 

The answer is, '^ Repent, and believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ." You have not met the 
wants of an inquiring soul when you have re- 
peated those words to him. He needs to know 
specifically what to do. Those words may con- 
vey no definite meaning to his mind. He may 
need a great deal of knowledge before he can 
understand what it is to believe in Christ. 

When one comes to you with this question, 
the first thing for you to do is to acquaint your- 
self with the condition of his soul. It is possi- 
ble that you may find that his mind is in a state 



138 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

of vague anxiety, produced, perhaps, by sym- 
pathy. Perhaps his fears may have been awak- 
ened by a vivid description of the condition of 
the lost, or by some starth'ng providential dis- 
pensation. In such cases, the prospect of being 
able to benefit the inquirer is not very hopeful. 
The real question with him is, '' How shall I get 
r-d of my uncomfortable feelings ?'' — he does not 
really desire salvation. Still, any kind of feeling 
is better than utter indifference. 

Having learned the state of the inquirer's 
mind, and the amount of rehgious knowledge 
possessed by him, the next thing is to attempt 
to produce the state of mind desired. He must 
see and feel that he is a lost sinner. To this 
end, he must have some knowledge of the char- 
acter of God as a holy God, who cannot look 
upon sin with complacency. 

The writer has often found inquirers with 
very vague conceptions of the justice of God. 
The Scriptures are the store-house of truth re- 
specting the character of God, and the truth§ 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 139 

brought to bear upon his mind, should, as far as 
possible, be sent home by a " Thus saith the 
Lord." Disputes and discussions should, as far 
as possible, be avoided. The desired state of 
mind will be produced, if produced at all, by 
the truth of God, and by the power of the Holy 
Spirit. 

The sinner must be convinced of sin before 
the remedy of the Gospel can be applied. To 
a sound conversion, a profound conviction of sin 
is necessary. Our fathers used to dwell upon 
the importance of a thorough "law-work," as 
they phrased it — meaning a thorough convic- 
tion of sin and ruin wrought by a knowledge 
of the law as applied to the acts of the sinner. 

We must carefully distinguish between con- 
viction of sin and the consequent or resulting 
emotion or excitement. Being convinced of sin 
is an act of perception — of knowing rather than 
of feeling. It may be the cause of feeling ; but 
it is not itself an emotive state of mind. 

A charge is brought against your neighbor 



140 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

that he has slandered you. You wish to know 
whether the charge is correct. You examine the 
evidence on which the charge rests. You find it 
to be sufficient. You are convinced that he is 
guilty. This conviction of his guilt may awaken 
feeling, and perhaps intense feeling. It may 
awaken indignation or compassionate grief. 

A man wishes to know whether you are con- 
vinced of your neighbor's guilt. In order to 
this, he makes inquiries of you. Those inquiries 
relate to your knowledge of the facts of the 
case. Do you know what the man has said, and 
the intent with which he said it, and the cir- 
cumstances under which he said it ? He 
would not pay much regard to your emotive 
state of mind. He would inquire what you 
knew about the matter. If one should say to 
him, " Of course he is convinced of his neigh- 
bor s guilt, for you see how indignant he feels 
toward him," he would not regard indignation 
as a procrf. It might arise from an erroneous 
view of the matter. He would look beyond the 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 141 

emotive state of mind to a cognitive or know- 
ing state : he would make his inquiries respect- 
ing the cognitive state with greater care, in con- 
sequence of the presence of feehng. He knows 
the disturbing force of feehng on the perceptive 
powers. 

In order to know what he must do to be 
saved, a man must know that he needs salva- 
tion ; that is, he must know that he is a sinner, 
and the extent to which he is a sinner. All 
know that they are sinners — all men know that 
they have sinned. All men are willing to admit 
that they have sinned. No one, till his mind 
has been enlightened, influenced, by the Holy 
Spirit, sees the extent of his sinfulness. 

Conviction of sin is a cognitive state of mind. 
It results from a comparison of conduct and 
character with the divine law. If a man says 
he is a great sinner, the chief of sinners, and 
you find that he has very inadequate ideas of 
God's law — of the relations he sustains to God, 
and the duties arising from those relations — you 



142 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

know that he is not convinced of sin. He 
lacks that knowledge of truth which is neces- 
sary to such conviction. The amount of feeling 
that he may exhibit has nothing to do with his 
conviction of sin — that is to say, it is in no 
sense conviction. It may be the result of con- 
viction. If a man sees that he is a lost sinner, 
anxiety and remorse and fear may naturally 
follow. 

A man is convinced of sin when he sees him- 
self as he is, when he views his conduct and 
character in their true light. He must see that 
he has done nothing but sin during his whole 
life — that all his actions are defective in the 
sight of God. He may have been kind and 
upright toward his fellow-men : these are acts 
in themselves right ; but the love of God was 
not in him — had no place as a motive in what 
he calls his good acts. These acts are not 
sinful in the same sense that robbery and 
murder are sinful ; they are sinful through 
defect. 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 143 

The convinced sinner sees that his whole 
life has been a life of alienation from God. It is 
not necessary that he should see that he is the 
greatest sinner living ; for probably that would 
not be the truth. What he needs to see is the 
truth. He needs to see that his whole life has 
been wrong, wrong by positive transgression or 
by defect. 

We are to set before him truths adapted to 
produce this conviction ; but the presentation 
of the truth, however skilfully made, will not 
produce the desired effect. The influence of 
the Holy Spirit is necessary. 

It may be asked, '' Why may not the Spirit 
produce conviction of sin without the interven- 
tion of certain truths ? 

So far as we know, this conviction never is 
wrought except by means of the truth. God's 
universe is a system of means, and of means 
adapted to the end in view. The knowledge 
spoken of above is adapted to an end, viz., to 
convince of sin. It is always right and wise to 



144 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 



inquire what God does. It is right and wise to 
inquire why he does it, when he has furnished 
us with the means of getting an answer to our 
inquiries. It is not wise to assign reasons for 
the Divine conduct when he has not revealed 
them. 




CHAPTER XXII. 

THE GREAT QUESTION CONTINUED. 

IV /T ANY mistake excited feeling for convic- 
tion of sin. They think that a person is 
under deep conviction of sin because he weeps 
freely, and gives other signs of emotion, and is 
profuse, it may be, in self-accusation. All this 
may take place without a proper knowledge of sin. 
To direct a person in this state of mind to 
comply at once with the terms of pardon is to 
direct him to do what is impossible. None but 
those who know and feel that they are lost sin- 
ners, are invited to come to Christ. If it were 
possible for one who is not convinced of sin 
to come to Christ) he could not be received. 
The Son of man came to seek and to save those 
that are lost. If the self-righteous Pharisee could 

come to Christ, he could not be received. 
10 



146 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

The amount of feeling that one truly con- 
vinced of sin may have, will depend upon his 
natural temperament, the circumstances in which 
he is placed, and the peculiar state of his nerv- 
ous system. The degree of feeling of anxiety 
and fear is of no consequence whatever. It will 
not give one clearer perceptions of the truth that 
must guide his action, nor will it atone for sin. 

Great care should be taken to correct the no- 
tion that conviction of sin consists in feelings 
of intense anxiety and distress. 

It is not contended that the knowledge neces- 
sary to conviction of sin must be received by 
the mind in the order, and after the form, laid 
down by theological writers. A man may know 
that he is a sinner — may have adequate knowl- 
edge of that fact — without being able to state his 
knowledge in terms used by theologians. 

What the instructor needs to know is the state 
of the inquirer s mind — not his ability or inability 
to use certain terms. 

Conviction of sin is followed by penitence ; 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 147 

that is, penitence should follow conviction of 
sin. When a man is convinced that he has 
done wrong, he should be sorry for it. Penitence 
does not necessarily follow conviction of sin, but 
without a conviction penitence is impossible. 

Repentance is sorrow for sin ; this sorrow 
must be something more than fear of punish- 
ment. A child may be sorry he has disobeyed 
his parents, because he knows that he will be 
punished. Remove the fear of punishment, 
and it is not at all certain that he will be sorry 
for his disobedience. Let him be sorry because 
he had displeased his parents, let him be sorry 
when he knows that no punishment will follow, 
and he feels the kind of sorrow which consti- 
tutes repentance. When one is thus sorry for 
having performed an act, and fully purposes 
never to repeat it, he is penitent. A man exer- 
cises repentance when he is sorry that he has 
sinned, and when his sorrow is of the kind that 
leads him to desire to be free from sin. The 
true penitent is sorry for sin for its own sake, 



148 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

and not on account of the consequences which 
may follow. He is sorry that he has disobeyed 
God not because God is the avenger of sin, 
but because he is holy. 

The teacher, in dealing with an awakened sin- 
ner, must be careful to discriminate between 
that godly sorrow which constitutes repentance, 
and the sorrow that is followed by no valuable 
results. 

It is quite possible that true sorrow for sin 
may be attended with fear : the presence of fear 
does not vitiate the feeling of penitence. 

What is the relation of penitence to forgive- 
ness ? Does penitence merit forgiveness ? 
When one has done wrong, and is sorry for it, 
does his sorrow atone for his wrong-doing ? 
Does sorrow for sin atone for sin ? At first 
view, one may be disposed to answer in the 
affirmative. The child has found by experience 
that forgiveness has followed penitence, and 
may thus be led to think that there is something 
atoning in penitence. 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 149 

It may be difficult to correct this impression. 
Something can be done by illustrations to show 
that sorrow for an act does not remove its 
natural consequences. Let illustrations be 
drawn from the various departments of nature. 
For example : A person may violate one of the 
laws of the vegetable kingdom by wounding the 
neck of a plant. He may be very sorry, but 
the plant will die. 

Let him violate a law of gravitation by erect- 
ing a structure in which the line of gravity falls 
without the base, and it will fall. Repentant 
tears for having violated the law will not pre- 
vent the structure from falling, nor restore it 
when it has fallen. Showing that repentance 
does not remove the penalty following the trans- 
gression of physical laws, prepares the mind to 
see that it does not remove the penalty follow- 
ing the transgression of the moral law. The 
passages of Scripture bearing upon this point, 
will be more clearly apprehended. 

The pupil should be led to see that penitence 



150 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

is an appropriate ground of forgiveness and not 
a meritorious cause. If a parent is prepared 
to forgive a child, the child cannot reasonably 
ask for forgiveness unless he is penitent. 

Provision has been made for forgiveness by 
the death of Christ, and all that is necessary is 
that the sinner should be in a proper state of 
mind to receive it. The rebel is not in a state 
of mind to receive pardon while he is constantly 
and wilfully occupied in acts of rebellion. No 
one could reasonably ask pardon for setting 
houses on fire if he should continue to set 
houses on fire while he is praying for pardon. 




CHAPTER XXIII. 

FAITH. 

T T E who is truly penitent has a right to ask 

for forgiveness for the sake of Christ. 

He has a right to believe that pardon will be 

granted. It is his duty to believe that pardon 

will be granted. 

To believe a proposition and to believe in 
Christ are states or processes of mind very dif- 
ferent. To believe a proposition is to receive 
it as true ; to believe in Christ is to have confi- 
dence in his word and in his character — to trust 
him. 

There are persons whom you trust. You 
trust a friend to supply you with food. He has 
promised that he will do so. You have perfect 
confidence in him. You feel sure that food will 
be supphed. 



152 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

Christ has promised to forgive and save every 
penitent sinner. When one relies upon that 
promise, when he trusts Christ's promises, when 
he has perfect confidence in Christ, he beUeves 
in him, he has faith in him. He has exercised 
faith — saving faith ; for it secures salvation. 

Persons are often exhorted to believe, as 
though it were an act of will. You cannot 
believe a proposition by willing to believe it. 
You must have evidence of its truth before you 
can believe. You cannot put confidence in a 
person by willing to put confidence in him. 
You must know that he is worthy of confidence. 
Hence, in order to putting confidence in Christ, 
his character must be known. Hence, the facts 
respecting the life and death of Christ must be 
known. When we are making our pupils ac- 
quainted with these facts, we are doing what is 
necessary in order to repentance and faith. 

The teacher should represent the atonement 
of Christ as the ground of forgiveness. It is 
not wise to attempt to explain to the young the 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 153 

philosophy of the atonement, if there is any 
meaning in that expression. It is not wise to 
attempt to explain how the sufferings and death 
of Christ render forgiveness possible. It is 
enough that God has declared that it is neces- 
sary to salvation. The facts are clearly stated, 
and are to be received and acted upon. 

We have seen that to produce the state of 
mind termed penitence the truths adapted to 
produce it should be placed before the mind. 
The sinner is to be led to consider his ways, to 
compare his conduct with the law of God. He 
is to be led to consider the character of God, 
and his dealings toward the sinner. These and 
similar truths are to be clearly set before the 
mind. While they are well adapted to cause 
repentance, it is well known that they will not 
do it. There is need of an influence stronger 
than truth to cause penitence — the influence 
of the Holy Spirit. For this we should con- 
stantly pray. Similar remarks may be made 
respecting faith. 



154 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

To deal wisely with an awakened sinner is a 
difficult work. To repeat certain forms of ex- 
pression, forms that contain truth, is not suffi- 
cient. The physician must know the state of 
the patient's body — must know what the disease 
is, and what stage in its progress has been 
reached, before he can give wise directions with 
reference to a cure. A similar knowledge is 
necessary in order to give wise directions with 
reference to salvation. The condition of the 
inquirer's mind must be known. 

To know the condition of the diseased body 
requires great discrimination. The success or 
failure of the medical practitioner depends, 
in a great measure, upon his skill in observ- 
ing symptoms, and in making inferences from 
them. 

A similar remark may be made respecting 
the spiritual adviser. He must have skill to 
discern the condition of the awakened sinner. 
Having learned the condition of the mind, the 
object is to cause conviction of sin — to cause 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 155 

the sinner to see that he is lost, and that he can 
be saved only through mercy shown him for 
Christ's sake. The laws of mind must be ob- 
served in efforts to produce the desired states 
of mind. No state of mind can be produced 
by an act of will. One cannot see and feel that 
he is a lost sinner by willing thus to see and to 
feel. The truths adapted to produce those 
states of mind must be seen, or those states of 
mind cannot be reached. 

Minds are wrought upon differently in the 
process of conversion. While there is a gen- 
eral similarity in the experience of all truly con- 
verted souls, there are specific differences, and 
the same points in experience are not always 
experienced in the same order. 

A man who had had great experience in 
revivals of religion remarked that when first 
called to meet v/ith inquiring sinners he was at 
a loss what to do. He told them they must 
repent and believe the Gospel. They knew that 
before they came to him. They wanted more 



156 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 



specific directions. At length it occurred to 
him that those souls were under the influence 
of the Holy Spirit. This influence must be 
wisely directed, for it is under the direction of 
infinite wisdom. He resolved to observe, if 
possible, how the Spirit was leading the sinner, 
and to do nothing to interfere with that influence. 
So far as it was possible he endeavored to be a 
laborer together with God. He- endeavored to 
learn what truths the Spirit was impressing 
upon the mind, and toward what states of mind 
the Spirit was leading the sinner. He thus 
endeavored to guide his acts by the indications 
of the Holy Spirit. 




CHAPTER XXIV. 

COURTEOUSNESS. 

/'^OURTEOUS manners on the part of the 
^"^ teacher, will have a refining influence. 
There are many in what are called the humble 
walks of life, who really have a great deal 
of native refinement. They have capacities 
which, developed, would render them refined 
and courteous. If they come within the reach 
of favorable influences, the development may be 
very rapid. The coming in contact with a 
single person of refinement, is often sufficient 
to awaken efforts in the right direction. The 
example and bearing of the teacher may thus 
have a great influence — especially with pupils 
whose advantages for social culture have been lim- 
ited. If a teacher has a class of rough materials, 
he should take especial care to be courteous. 



158 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

Persons sometimes fail to adapt themselves 
to their pupils and to others through ignorance 
of the fact that courteous and refined manners 
have more influence with the rude than with 
the cultivated. Persons wishing to make them- 
selves popular with their inferiors in culture, 
sometimes adopt their manners. They never 
succeed in their object. Their conduct in so 
doing is regarded as condescension. None like 
to be the objects of condescension. 

True courtesy has great power. Let the 
courtesy spring from the heart, and it will have 
power even with the coarsest specimens of 
humanity. 

I once knew a superintendent who had a 
rough class of boys brought into the school. 
He assigned a teacher adapted to them, as he 
thought. The teacher was a man of sense and 
piety, but one of the most uncouth of mortals. 
He had no power over the class. A highly 
educated gentleman was placed over it. A 
wonderful change was soon visible. 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 159 

The Sunday-school teacher comes in contact 
with pupils of culture and refinement of man- 
ners. If he does not give examples of the 
same, he will suffer in their estimation. They 
may respect his goodness ; but they cannot fail 
to see that they are in one respect, at least, his 
superior. 

The Sunday-school teacher comes in contact 
with those who have had no advantages for 
social culture, and for the formation of good 
manners. To such he should be a model. He 
may be the only one that will give them lessons 
on a most important subject. 

It may be thought that in these remarks we 
are giving undue importance to the external : 
there is such a connection between the external 
and the internal, as renders attention to the 
external important for the sake of the internal. 
It is our duty to have pious thoughts and feel- 
ings, and it is our duty to give appropriate ex- 
pression to our thoughts and feelings. A mode 
of expression that fails to express our thoughts 



i6o Hand-Book on Teaching. 

and feelings aright, will be wrong. It is our 
duty to love our friends. Of course it is our 
duty at proper times to give appropriate ex- 
pression to our love. If we fail to do this, if 
our attempts at expression are such as lead our 
friends to be in doubt whether we love them or 
not, we fail in duty toward them. It will not 
do to say, " My feelings toward them are right 
— no matter what my manners toward them 
are." 

The object of Christianity is to make perfect 
men and women. A coarse, vulgar man cannot 
be a perfect man. A perfect man is one who 
has right desires, affections, and gives to them 
their appropriate expression. While we should 
guard against the idea that religion is a matter 
of rites and ceremonies, we should also guard 
against the idea that it has nothing to do with 
esthetic culture, and refinement of manner. 

The example of Christ was one of gentleness 
and courtesy. His example gives no countenance 
to the neglect of politeness. He would have 



Hand-Book on Teaching. i6i 

our feelings toward all men to be such as would 
lead us, in all our intercourse with them, to 
obey the injunction to ''be courteous." 

The love of beauty is not the love of holiness. 
Courteous manners will not atone for the ab- 
sence of love in the heart. No amount of 
esthetic culture can remove the stains of sin, 
or recommend the sinner to God. No amount 
of labor bestowed upon the manners can re- 
move that natural alienation of the heart from 
God. Still, the love of beauty is in keeping 
with the love of holiness, and polished manners 
are the appropriate expression of the feelings 

which the love of Christ generates in the soul. 
11 




CHAPTER XXV. 

ADAPTATION AND INFLUENCE. 

A TEACHER must be acquainted with the 
human mind in general,— he must also be 
acquainted with the peculiarities of each indi- 
vidual mind. There is no way of teaching a 
class but by teaching each individual in the 
class. There are no two minds exactly alike. 
Minds differ in their power of acquiring knowl- 
edge. Some minds work much more slowly 
than others. This is obvious to every teacher. 
It leads him to be patient with the slow, and to 
guard the active from error. A truth that is 
seen by one mind as soon as it is pointed out, 
can be seen by the other after long continued 
looking. Perhaps he can be made to see it only 
by the light furnished by some analogous truth. 
The teacher should be skilful in the use of 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 163 

analogies, or, as they are commonly called, illus- 
trations. There are two ways in which a ready 
command of illustrations can be secured. When 
reading, a memorandum should be made of 
every fact or figure met with, that can be used 
for illustration. The labor of doing this has 
been saved by books containing classified illus- 
trations. Time is thus saved by having a store- 
house provided, but illustrations gathered from 
such a source will not be likely to have the 
freshness of those selected by the teacher from 
the books read. 

It is said of Mackintosh that all his illustra- 
tions were gathered and made ready for use in 
advance. Robert Hall said that his imagination 
was like a room with illustrations hung all 
around upon its walls, and that when he needed 
a figure he had only to take one down from the 
hook on which it was hanging. The dryness 
of such illustrations must be felt by the com- 
positions of which they form a part. Still, illus- 
trations thus gathered are better than none. 



164 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

There is a more excellent way, that of form- 
ing the habit of observing analogies, — of collect- 
ing them ourselves from nature, and our own 
observation and experience. 

The quick mind is in danger of being super- 
ficial, hence care must be taken to prevent it. 
You can never be sure that your pupil under- 
stands a thought till he can state it in his own 
language, and state it accurately. 

There are other peculiarities of intellect and 
of disposition, which are not so easily distin- 
guished. The teacher needs great skill in 
inferring from the pupil's acts his state of 
mind, or his disposition. Some are so timid 
that when spoken to by the teacher, their ex- 
citement banishes from their minds the ideas 
they wish to remember. Fear is sometimes 
mistaken for stubbornness. It is a great thing 
for a teacher to understand his pupils. Long and 
careful observation, and inference drawn under 
the influence of love, will aid him to this under- 
standing. So long as the pupil feels that the 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 165 

teacher does not understand him, he is not in 
an attitude to be influenced by him. 

Every means should be used by the teacher 
to become acquainted with the mental powers 
and dispositions of those committed to his care. 
He cannot acquire this knowledge by meeting 
them for an hour once a week. 

The teacher must, while conducting an exer- 
cise or recitation, put himself in the place of 
each pupil. An accurate knowledge of the 
mind of each pupil is necessary in order to 
adapt one's questions and statements to the 
condition of that pupil's mind. A single ques- 
tion may cause one mind to see the truth. A 
number of questions may be necessary to cause 
another mind to see the same truth. 

Merely to cause the pupil to see certain truths 
is not the sole work of the teacher. He is to 
influence them in a variety of ways. 

When we wish to influence one, we wish 
to influence him to act ; we wish him to 
do something — -either a specific act, or a 



1 66 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

series of acts, tending to the formation of 
habit. We may convince one of the pro- 
priety of doing a thing, and yet may not suc- 
ceed in inducing him to do it. An intellectual 
conviction that a certain thing ought to be 
done, will not induce one to do it. Acts of 
voUtion are always immediately preceded by 
some form of desire. We must awaken feeling 
on the part of those whom we would influence. 

To this end, we must have the confidence of 
our pupils. This is of the utmost importance 
in order to a healthful influence. Some teachers 
seek for popularity with their pupils for the 
sake of influence over them. It is better to 
aim at securing the confidence of your pupils, 
than to aim at securing their favor. If you 
secure their confidence that you are interested 
in their welfare — that your sympathies are with 
them — you will secure their esteem. Enduring 
popularity must have confidence as its basis. 

Confidence is secured by a course of action 
adapted to secure it. That course of action 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 167 

should be real. A simulated course may 
deceive for a time ; but permanent confidence 
can be secured only by a sincere devotion to 
your pupils, and perfect honesty in all your in- 
tercourse with them. 

Having secured their confidence, a knowledge 
of their dispositions will enable you to influence 
them. One has a fretful disposition, another 
a suspicious disposition, another an envious dis- 
position. To act wisely in view of these dispo- 
sitions, so as to repress those which are evil, 
and to develop and strengthen those which are 
good, is one of the most important and most 
difficult parts of a teacher's work. 

Observation, inference, effort, and prayer, are 
necessary. 

The Sunday-school teacher should make the 
mind and character of every member of his 
class the subject of earnest study. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

PROGRESS IN CHRISTIAN EDUCATION 

TDERSONS often speak of one's education as 
-*- completed. Properly speaking, one's edu- 
cation is not completed on earth. There is a 
time when the disciplinary studies are ended, 
and when life in earnest is entered upon ; when 
the habits formed and the knowledge acquired 
will be put to use in the practical business of 
life, but the work of education will still go on. 
The mind often improves more rapidly after 
school studies are ended, than during any former 
period. As exercise is the law of growth, the 
exercise of life in earnest is often more promo- 
tive of mental growth than the exercise of the 
schools. The work of forming habits does not 
cease when school life is ended. It is c^rrie4 
OR to the close of life. 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 169 

So with our religious education. Our relig- 
ious is analogous to our intellectual growth. 
*' First the blade, then the ear, and after that 
the full corn in the ear." **The path of the 
just is as the shining light, that shineth more 
and more unto the perfect day." 

These passages indicate the mode of Chris- 
tian growth. Some suggestions on this subject 
may be useful. 

We have seen that the end of Christian edu- 
cation—of all true education — is to restore to 
the soul the lost image of God, to make a com- 
plete and perfect man. 

We have seen that the laws of mind have not 
been changed by the fall. The method of form- 
ing habits is the same now as before the fall. 
The fall wrought in the mind a tendency to form 
evil instead of good habits. This tendency 
must be corrected before the highest education 
can be entered upon. The process of regen- 
eration must take place. Toward this highest 
education every teacher should aim. 



I/O Hand-Book on Teaching. 

He is not, however, to confine his efforts 
exclusively ^'.o the formation of the habits whose 
formation is conditioned on conversion. Sup- 
pose you aid an unconverted pupil in forming 
habits of attention and of clear perception. 
Those habits do not make a Christian of him. 
But one who can see clearly will be the more 
likely to see the truths necessary to salvation : 
when such an one is converted, the habit will 
be useful to him : it is a power which may be 
used in doing good. ^* In the morning sow thy 
seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand." 
Try to do good at all times and in all practicable 
ways. 

As we are to covet earnestly the best gifts, 
so v/e are to aim chiefly at the conversion and 
growth in grace of our pupils. 

We should cause our pupils to understand 
that conversion is not an end, but simply the 
beginning of a new life. Some seem to think 
that when they are converted they have noth- 
ing more to do but to enjoy themselves — tp 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 171 

enjoy their privileges. It is true that they are 
to enjoy their privileges, but the highest of all 
their privileges is that of growing in grace — of 
becoming more and more conformed to the 
image of God. To this end, the means ap- 
pointed should be diligently used. 

Some think that when they are converted, 
their chief work is to do good to the souls of 
men. It is true, that God converted them that 
they might be laborers together with him. It 
is true, that they ought to seek to save the 
souls of men ; but it is also true, that they 
are to grow in conformity to the character of 
God. 

To guide a young convert aright requires 
wisdom and skill. The Christian character of 
the convert depends, in a great measure, upon 
the influences to which he is subject immedi- 
ately subsequent to conversion. 

The question that the convert should be led 
to ask is, not " What must I feel ? " but " What 
must I do ? " Lord, what wilt thou have me to 



1/2 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

do ? is the attitude to be taken by every con- 
verted soul. 

God would have every one render, from the 
promptings of love, perfect obedience to his 
will. Hence, to learn that will, we must study 
the Bible, in which God's character is perfectly 
revealed, and his will is perfectly made known. 

When the right course is pursued, there will 
be a steady increase in divine knowledge, a 
steady increase in skill in performing duty, 
and a steady increase in love to God and to 
men. This progress in spiritual growth is 
analogous to intellectual growth. Like it, it is 
conditioned on the diligent use of means. 

The instructions of the religious teacher 
should be adapted to the condition of the pu- 
pil. The teacher of gymnastics will not exhort 
the lad of fourteen years to do what he would 
exhort a full-grown man to do.' The religious 
teacher should not exhort the babe in Christ to 
do what he might properly exhort a man long 
in the school of Christ to do. 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 173 

This is not seldom done. Young Christians 
are told to exercise feelings, or, at least, that it 
is their duty to exercise feelings which cannot 
be exercised at their stage of progress. You 
may tell a man on the mountain top to behold 
an object in the distant horizon. It would be 
folly to tell one not half way up the mountain 
to behold it. It is not within the range of his 
vision. 

It is not wise to exhort a young Christian to 
feel as only an experienced Christian can feel. 
And yet this is often done. In consequence, 
the young Christian attempts to produce, by an 
act of will, a state of mind which can be reached, 
it may be, only by a long course of effort and 
of sutfering. 

The secular teacher adapts the exercises re- 
quired of his pupil to the condition of his mind. 
So should the religious teacher. 

Christ had regard to this principle of adapta- 
tion when he said, " I have many things to say 
unto you, but ye cannot bear them now." 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

SELF-DENIAL AND CROSS-BEARING. 

'nn^HERE is an impression on the minds of 
some that Christ's yoke is not easy, and 
that his burden is not light. It has already 
been shown that God's law is really a directory 
for the attainment of happiness. Still, some 
seem to think that because Christ's religion is 
. a self-denying, cross-bearing religion, it must 
interfere with human happiness. They fail to 
see that it is the Christian's duty to be happy — 
"to rejoice evermore." They seem to think that 
it is his duty to be unhappy, or, at least, to have 
seasons of despondency and gloom. A very 
little reflection will show that such views are 
wrong and injurious. 

Wrong views of self-denial are entertained 
by some. They do not distinguish with suf- 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 175 

ficient clearness between self-denial and pen- 
ance. The self-denial of the Gospel has noth- 
ing of the nature of penance. We are never 
required to practice self-denial for its own 
sake, or for the sake of rendering ourselves 
uncomfortable. 

We are to deny ourselves all sinful indul- 
gences — the ''pleasures of sin for a season." 
Denying the claims of sinful appetites does not 
interfere with our happiness. 

We are sometimes to deny ourselves pleas- 
ures in themselves innocent, for the sake of 
others. A case of want is made known to 
one. He can relieve it by a sum of money 
which he had designed to spend in a pleasure 
excursion. He can deny himself the pleasure 
of that excursion. 

Does that act of self-denial lessen his happi- 
ness : Is it adapted to make him sour and 
gloomy } Or does it tend to enlarge his heart 
and increase his happiness ? Let experience 
decide. 



176 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

The Christian is to deny himself and take up 
his cross. He is to deny himself all ungodli- 
ness and worldly lusts, and also lawful pleasures, 
when required so to do. He must hold himself 
in readiness to practice this real self-denial, 
whenever God in his providence requires it. 
To perform acts of self-denial when God does 
not require them, is as far from duty as is 
courting persecution. We are to endure 
persecution when it comes ; but we are not to 
seek for it. 

In the view of some, taking up the cross con- 
sists in performing unpleasant duties, or acts 
which are supposed to be duties. It sometimes 
happens that erroneous views of duty cause 
great unhappiness. A woman, for example, 
thinks it is her duty to go and give a public 
warning or reproof to some very wicked man. 
She has a nice sense of propriety, but she 
thinks that duty requires her to disregard 
it. Perhaps her sense of propriety is so strong 
that she cannot overcome it, and therefore 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 177 

fails to do what she regards as her duty. 
She, of course, thereby does injury to her 
character. 

Now it is quite possible, nay, is more than 
probable, that it was not her duty to warn that 
wicked man. We are to take up the cross 
when God places it in our way. 

We are not to make crosses for the purpose 
of taking them up. Accurate views of duty 
will save us from errors of this kind. Duty is 
determined by the written word, and an enlight- 
ened conscience, — not by impulses and sug- 
gestions for which no cause can be given. A 
reason can be given for every duty, as well as 
for the hope that is within us. 

It is very desirable that the duty and privi- 
lege of self-denial be understood and practiced. 
It is one of the most effective means of religious 
growth. 

Our fallen nature leads us to selfishness. 

Temptations to selfishness abound. To deny 

our selfishness is not to make ourselves un- 

12 



if8 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

happy. When we see an unselfish man, we 
know that we see a happy man. 

A great portion of the training which the 
young receive, is adapted to make them " sharp " 
ahci selfish. 

Great pains should be taken by teachers to 
lead their pupils to habits of generous, unselfish 
action. The most effective mode of teaching 
is by example. 





CHAPTER XXVIII. 

ENJOYING RELIGION. 

"^T TE sometimes hear the question asked, 
'' Do you enjoy religion ? " Some re- 
marks suggested by this question may be use- 
ful. The teacher should have clear ideas on all 
matters pertaining to the religious life. 

Let us consider what is meant by *^ enjoying 
religion." 

The expression suggests the idea entertained 
by some that religion consists chiefly in excited 
feeling — that enjoyment is the object of religion. 
This is a fundamental error. The object of 
religion is not happiness, but holiness. Happi- 
ness is the result of holiness. 

Consider the case of Mr. X. He is a mem- 
ber of the Church. He is what his neighbors 
call a hard man. He wants the highest price 



i8o Hand-Book on Teaching. 

for what he has to sell. He is quite as exacting 
from the poor man as he is from the rich man. 
He is never fraudulent. He wants only that 
which belongs to him. Men have great confi- 
dence in his honesty, but very little confidence 
in his benevolence. 

His temper is what they call "fractious." 
The boys do not like him. 

He is, as has been said, a member of the 
Church, and is a regular attendant upon the serv- 
ices of the Sabbath, and is always present at 
the weekly prayer-meeting. He always has 
something to say, and that something is com- 
monly a statement of his enjoyment of religion. 
He is always in a high degree of excitement in 
the meeting. He has brought himself to believe 
that he does enjoy the meetings, and that his 
enjoyment is a religious enjoyment. If so, it 
is not worth much. 

There are others besides Mr. X. who endeavor 
to get their minds excited, under the impression 
that the enjoyment attendant upon excitement 



Hand-Book on Teaching. i8i 

is the enjoyment of religion. They imagine 
that rehgion consists mainly in feeling. 

A man is religious just in proportion as he is 
Christ-like. In proportion as he is Christ-like, 
he will do that which is right. Christ's con- 
formity to the law of holiness was perfect. A 
man is religious in proportion as he obeys the 
law of holiness. To know that law and to obey 
it, is to be the object of his life. 

But has feeling nothing to do with religion ? 
Much, every way. The truths of religion are 
adapted to awaken feeling. What God has 
done for us is adapted to awaken feelings of 
gratitude. A view of his awful justice is 
adapted to awaken feelings of fear. A view of 
the sympathy of Christ is adapted to produce 
comfort. A view of the exceedingly great and 
precious promises is adapted to inspire a lively 
hope, and the cheerful and joyous emotions 
consequent thereon. 

The religion of Christ is a religion of feeling. 
Its duties can be summed up in supreme love 



1 82 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

to God and benevolence toward man. But it is 
a religion of reasonable feeling — of feeling pro- 
duced by appropriate causes. 

Paul did not ask the Lord how he should 
feel, but w^hat he must do ? Paul, when he en- 
tered upon his religious life, did not set out in 
pursuit of happiness. He set out to do his 
Lord's work, just as every convert should do. 
His business is with duty and with feeling so 
far as it is duty. He is to let the Lord take 
care of his happiness. 

True Christian feeling, and true Christian 
enjoyment, result from the perception of truth 
and the performance of duty. The joy of love 
can never be experienced except by those who 
love. The joy of self-denial can never be expe- 
rienced except by those who practice self- 
denial. The joy of submission to God's will 
can be experienced only by those who prac- 
tice submission to that will. So of all the joys 
of the Christian life. They are not states 
of mind produced by acts of will, or by the 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 



183 



exercise of imagination, or by sympathy. They 
are states of mind resulting from the perception 
of truth or from the performance of duty. 

The question each one should ask is, not, 
*' How shall I enjoy religion.^" but, "How shall 
I become like Christ ? " 





CHAPTER XXIX. 

WHY SHOULD I BE A SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHER? 

TDROBABLY Christ requires it of you. He 
has said to you, " Go work in my vine- 
yard." The Sunday-school department of that 
vineyard is open before you. You have the 
time, the health, the capacity to become a 
teacher. Unless you can find a satisfactory 
reason why you should not become a Sunday- 
school teacher, the conclusion seems to follow 
that you should be one. Christ does not by an 
audible voice call his followers each to his par- 
ticular field, but he does so by his providence. 
When one possesses the capacity for a certain 
work, and that work is set before him, 
he is called to that work. If a man in whose 
service you are should put an axe into your 
hands, and point to a tree before you, you 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 185 

would understand him as directing you to cut 
wood. 

You trust you have been converted. Christ 
did not convert you to be an idle member of 
his Church. He did not purchase you with his 
own precious blood, merely that you might 
escape perdition. As you are not your own, 
but have been bought with a price, you are 
to glorify God with your body and your 
spirit. You can glorify him by doing his 
will, and in no other way. Is it not his will 
that you should strive to win the young to his 
service ? 

It is a great privilege to be a Sunday-school 
teacher. It is to be a co-worker with Christ 
and the Holy Spirit, in the highest work in 
which a human being can engage. True, it 
may involve hard work, self-denial, and suffer- 
ing. Did you ever count it a privilege to labor 
and to practice self-denial for the sake of one 
dearly beloved ? Would you surrender to any 
one your place by the sick-bed of your mother ? 



1 86 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

Is it not, in like manner, a privilege to labor and 
to practice self-denial for Christ ? If we love 
him as wq ought, we shall find it to be so. 
Moreover, labor in the Sunday-school is not in 
vain, although, in seasons of discouragement, 
the teacher may think so. Paul exhorts Chris- 
tians to diligence in labor because that labor 
will be successful. ".Inasmuch, as ye know that 
your labor is not in vain in the Lord." He 
does not encourage them with probabilities of 
success. He speaks of success as certain, and 
he speaks of their knowledge of the fact — " inas- 
much as ye know, that your labor is not in vain 
in the Lord." Labor in the Lord is labor in 
accordance with his will. His will must be 
perfectly wise. Whatever is done in accordance 
with the will of God, must be in accordance 
with the principles of infinite wisdom. What- 
ever is done in accordance with his will must 
accomplish just what he designed it should 
accomplish. When a man has accomplished 
by his labors just that which infinite wisdom 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 187 

designed he should accomplish, he has good 
reason to be satisfied with his success. 

The work of Sunday-school instruction is 
self-improving work. It is very desirable to 
have clear and accurate views of divine truth. 
There is no means of acquiring clear and accu- 
rate views of truth compared with that of ear- 
nest striving to cause other minds to see it 
clearly. As divine truth is the source of duty 
and the instrument of sanctification, an accu- 
rate knowledge of it is the most important 
acquisition it is possible to make. 

The exercise of mind called forth by attempts 
at teaching, is a kind of exercise eminently 
adapted to promote mental growth. 

The exercise of benevolence toward your 
pupils — for your whole work is a work of benev- 
olence — increases your power of benevolent 
action. There is no course of action better 
adapted to promote spiritual progress than a 
course of earnest, wise effort to promote the 
conversion and sanctification of souls. 



1 88 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

The labors of the Sunday-school teacher are 
followed by a large reward. The reward is cer- 
tain. Christ's word is pledged to that effect. 
The faithful teacher will see some souls con- 
verted. He will have the joy of leading them 
in the strait and narrow way. He will have the 
joy of feeding the lambs of Christ. No action 
in their behalf will pass unnoticed by the Master. 
"Whosoever shall give to one of these little 
ones a cup of cold water only, verily he shall 
not lose his reward." "They that are wise" — 
wise to win souls — " shall shine as the firmament ; 
and they that turn many to righteousness, as 
the stars for ever and ever." 





CHAPTER XXX. 

QUESTIONING. 

O KILL in asking questions is one of the most 
^ important qualifications of a teacher. The 
chief end of questions is not to determine 
whether or not the pupil has performed his al- 
lotted task. They are sometimes to be asked 
for that purpose. A higher object is to lead 
the pupil to think — to see truth for himself. 

In teaching, 'you wish to be sure that the pu- 
pil sees the truths which are the subject of 
study. If you tell him a truth — make a formal 
statement of it, and ask him if he sees it — he may 
answer yes ; still you are not sure that he sees 
it. By suitable questions, turn his mind's eye 
toward the truth and bid him tell you what he 
sees. If he states it correctly, you are sure 
that he sees it. To turn the mind's eye in the 



190 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

direction in which the truth lies, requires skill 
in asking questions. 

This method of questioning leads the pupil 
to see truth for himself — leads him to think, 
which is the great end of educational effort. 

This may be regarded as a slow process. It 
may compel the teacher to ask a great many 
questions before the pupil sees a truth that 
could be told him in a very few words. It would 
be much easier to state the truth to him, but it 
would not be so well for him. The business of 
the teacher is not to tell the pupil what to be- 
lieve, but to make him a seer of truth. He 
can learn to see by seeing, and in no other 
way. 

This mode of questioning is the "drawing 
out " process, which is often contrasted with the 
** pouring in '' process. Both expressions are fig- 
urative. '' Drawing out the mind,'* means lead- 
ing it to see — to exercise its faculties. At the 
outset, there is nothing in the mind to draw out, 
that is to say, nothing in the form of knowledge. 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 191 

It is created with capacities for acquiring knowl- 
edge. To develop and direct those capacities 
is the work of the educator. 

Questions must be adapted to the pupil. It 
is a great error to suppose that there are certain 
questions relating to a lesson, which are the 
best questions, and which are consequently to 
be put to the members of the class in order. 
That is the best question which leads the pupil 
to see, most clearly, the truth pointed out. A 
single direct question will lead one pupil to see 
it, and will call forth an answer. The same 
question put to another pupil will call forth no 
answer, because it will not lead him to see any 
thing. Perhaps half a dozen successive ques- 
tions may be necessary. 

You ask a member of the class a question, 
and he fails to answer it. He does not see the 
truth. You know that he is familiar with an 
analogous truth. You question him respecting 
that truth. You get intelligent answers. You 
then recur to the first question, and, by the aid 



192 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

of analogy, he sees the truth you desire him to 
see, and he gives you a correct answer. 

The skilful teacher thus becomes a different 
person, as it were, to each of his pupils. He 
places himself in the condition of the pupil, and 
questions him accordingly. Hence, his ques- 
tions relating to the same subject must vary 
with the condition and capacity of the pupils. 

The teacher should never put questions for 
the purpose of puzzling his pupils, or of show- 
ing his superiority. The best kind of superi- 
ority is that which enables one to aid his pupils 
in seeing truth, and in performing mental 
processes which they would not otherwise per- 
form. In no way can a teacher get a stronger 
hold of the mind of the pupil than by teaching 
that pupil to see truth for himself — to rely upon 
himself 

The teacher should avoid asking general in- 
definite questions : he should especially avoid 
asking questions which require simply an affirm- 
ative or a negative. 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 193 

He should remember that the mind is so 
made that it can perceive general truths only 
by means of particular truths. All questions 
should relate at first to particular truths. When 
the mind is familiar with particular illustrations 
of a truth, it is prepared to understand that 
truth when stated in a general form, and not' 
before. 

The teacher should avoid asking too easy 
questions. This is sometimes done through 
indolence on the part of the teacher, and some- 
times through a desire to please his pupils. 
But pupils become restless under such ques- 
tionings. Their minds are not exercised, and 
they find that they learn nothing from the reci- 
tation. There is pleasure connected with the 
exercise of mind. The best way to make a 
recitation interesting, and the teacher popu- 
lar, is to make the hour devoted to it an hour of 
intense mental activity. 

Questions should be expressed in good En- 
glish, and uttered in a natural tone, with due 

13 



194 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

regard to emphasis. Some teachers adopt a 
formal and monotonous manner. They ask all 
questions in the same tone. They fail to gain 
the attention of the class. The pupils regard 
it as a sort of mechanical exercise. Let that 
formal, monotonous manner be dropped, and a 
question asked in a natural tone, and they are 
all attention. 

Let teachers study the art of questioning. 
They will, of course, learn that different studies 
require different modes of questioning. Let 
them seek to acquire the mode best adapted to 
quicken and improve the mind of the pupil. 




CHAPTER XXXI. 

PREPARATION FOR RECITATION. 

T^HE teacher must of course understand 
the lesson he is to teach. He must of 
course study it carefully. It will be well to 
learn more about the subject than is contained 
in the lesson. He may, perhaps to advantage, 
add to the truths contained in the lesson. 
Whether it will be wise for him to do so de- 
pends upon circumstances. His object, for the 
most part, will be to make the pupils fully under- 
stand what is in the lesson. It is not often that 
there will be time for giving additional informa- 
tion. An extended study of the subject will 
enable the teacher so to do, if it is deemed 
desirable. 

An extended study of the subject of the les- 
son qualifies the teacher to teach it better. It 



196 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

gives him a more complete mastery of the sub- 
ject, and increases his own mental power. 
The work of the teacher is peculiarly adapted 
to self-improvement. 

The next thing in the work of preparation is 
to consider what points in the lesson shall be 
presented to the pupils, and in what manner 
they shall be presented. The strong points 
should be presented first. How shall this point 
be presented ? In what way shall I illustrate 
it so that this and that point can be seen by this 
and that member of the class ^ What truth 
contained in the lesson is adapted to make an 
impression on this mind ? To the condition of 
what mind is this truth adapted ? These and 
similar questions will be considered. By study- 
ing the lesson in this manner, the teacher be- 
comes interested in it. If the teacher is not 
interested, the pupils will not be. A necessary 
condition of interest on the part of the pupils 
is interest on the part of the teacher. 

The work of preparation is never done. Some 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 197 

teachers, when they have gone over a course of 
lessons with great care, think that the work 
of preparation is done. Not so with a good 
teacher. With him, fresh preparation must be 
made for every recitation. When he has be- 
come perfectly famihar with a subject, it is 
sometimes more work to make due preparation 
than at first. Then the topics Vv^ere new. The 
mind became interested in studying them. But 
when those topics are perfectly familiar, the 
interest of novelty is lost. It is difficult to 
awaken in the mind the interest needed to 
awaken interest in the minds of the pupil. 

We have here one reason for the fact that 
teachers are apt to become dull after a few 
years' service. They become perfectly famil- 
iar with the subjects taught, and fall into 
habits of formal repetitions. They lose all in- 
terest themselves, and of course fail to awaken 
it in others. 

The most successful teachers, who have never 
allowed their interest in the work to flag, have 



198 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

always made diligent preparation for every 
recitation. 

It may be asked, " How can they feel an in- 
terest in a book that they have taught over and 
over again?" 

Their main object was not to teach the book, 
but to form the minds of their pupils. The 
book was used as a means to that end. They 
looked at the minds of their successive classes 
rather than to the book. Fresh material, to 
work upon was thus furnished them. In striv- 
ing to act efficiently on that material, their 
interest remained unabated — in fact, kept on in- 
creasing. The true teacher feels an increasing 
interest in his work. 

An important part of one's preparation for 
meeting his class consists in a state of feeling 
that will prompt to a natural, cheerful, affec- 
tionate manner. The duty of the teacher is to 
please his pupils for their edification. Pupils 
will always respect efforts to interest and please 
them for their good. 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 199 

They have often more skill in judging of 
the motives of the teacher, than they get 
credit for. 

Prayer should have a prominent place in the 
work of preparation for meeting a class. The 
Sunday-school teacher deals with spiritual reali- 
ties. He needs to see them as real. To the 
unconverted they do not seem real. To the 
Christian they sometimes lose a portion of their 
reality. It is only when by prayer he draws 
near to God and the eternal world, that these 
truths seem real and become influential. They 
must seem so to the teacher if he would be 
successful in impressing them upon the minds of 
his pupils. 

Besides, he is dependent on the influences 
of the Holy Spirit for the success at which he 
aims — the conversion of the soul. The Spirit 
is given in answer to prayer. "How much 
more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy 
Spirit to them that ask him." 




CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE BLACKBOARD. 

/^^ EJECTS described in a book or orally, 
^"^^ may be represented on the blackboard. 
In the lesson, reference is, perhaps, made to the 
palm-tree. A drawing on the board will enable 
the pupil to get a clearer idea of it — to form a 
more accurate mental image of it than can be 
formed from any description written or oral. 
The trees, animals, and scenes of the Bible 
can be illustrated on the blackboard by one 
having only a moderate degree of skill in rough 
drawing. 

The first and most important use of the black- 
board is to represent that which is picturable 
in the imagination — that of which mental im- 
ages may be formed. 

It may also be used for putting down heads 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 201 

of thought or sentences for the class to commit 
to memory. The teacher may be engaged in 
leading his pupils to see a truth. When, by 
questioning, or statement, or both, he has caused 
them to see it, it may be briefly expressed on 
the blackboard, and a new departure taken. 

The advantages resulting from a legitimate 
use of the blackboard have led to its abuse. 

Some have attempted, or, at least, have pro- 
fessed to represent or illustrate processes of 
thought on the board. 

Some mental operations may thus be illus- 
trated ; but those processes are not cognitive but 
imaginative. One may construct imaginary 
objects and scenes ; that is, he may imagine 
objects and scenes, and may represent them 
on the board, just as he may represent real 
objects and scenes. But the blackboard will 
be seldom required in the Sunday-school to 
illustrate the fictions of the imagination. The 
staple dealt in is truth. 

When the mental operation consists of what 



202 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

IS properly termed thought, it may be expressed 
in words on the board, but it cannot be pict- 
ured, because it is formless. 

It will be asked, May it not be expressed by 
arbitrary signs, and thus aid the student in con- 
ducting his process of thought.^ The black- 
board furnishes aid to the student of geometry : 
why may it not, in like manner, furnish aid to 
the student of mental philosophy ? Because 
the two subjects differ in their nature. The 
triangles and circles which the-student of geom- 
etry draws on the board are not the figures he 
is studying : they aid him in keeping his atten- 
tion fixed on the mathematical figures — the 
spacial triangles and circles which he is study- 
ing. If he could perceive the relations of those 
figures without the aid of material lines, if he 
could see them with his mind's eye, it would be 
all the better. The blackboard aids some to see 
truths which they could not otherwise see. 

But it can furnish no such aid in the study 
of mental and spiritual truth. No figure on 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 203 

the board can aid one to get a clearer idea of 
love, or a clearer sense of duty. 

The teacher, we will suppose, is endeavoring 
to show the effect of love on the mind's percep- 
tion of duty. He may draw a figure, say the 
letter X, on the board, and say that it represents 
or denotes love. The eyes of the pupils may be 
fixed on the X, but will it give them a clearer 
idea of love, or enable them to keep their atten- 
tion more steadily fixed on the statement or 
reasonings connected with it } 

When the teacher has led the class to see that 
love is favorable to clear perceptions of duty, 
he may make another figure on the board to 
denote the conclusion reached ; but it will 
not render the conclusion clearer to any 
mind. There can be no illustrative force in 
the figure. 

It may aid the pupil in remembering the 
truth, but it is very undesirable to form the 
habit of remembering by the aid of arbitrary 
signs. 



204 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

In some secular schools, the practice of mak- 
ing diagrams to express the relations of the 
different parts of a sentence to one another, is 
prevalent. It is thought to furnish aid to the 
student in the process of analysis — in the proc- 
ess of seeing the relations expressed by the 
words constituting the sentence. One form 
indicates the subject, and another, the predi- 
cate, and another, the modifier of the predicate, 
etc. A moment's reflection will show that the 
relations must be cognized before the diagram 
can be made. The pupil must know what word 
or words constitute the subject before he can 
draw the lines that indicate the subject — and so 
of every other word in the sentence. A figure 
that cannot be drawn till the relation is per- 
ceived, cannot aid the pupil in perceiving that 
relation. 

A diagram may be of service as a sort of 
short-hand recitation. The teacher may give a . 
class a sentence to analyze, and the whole class 
may go to the board, write out the sentence, 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 



205 



and indicate by signs their comprehension of 
the analysis. 

The good teacher will not content himself 
with such recitations. If continued long, they 
become closely allied to the mechanical. 




CHAPTER XXXIII. 

AN EDUCATIONAL PHOTOGRAPH. 

T T OW the mind acquires a knowledge of 
duty — the ground of moral obligation — 
obedience to conscience, are topics in regard to 
which clear and accurate ideas should be ac- 
quired. The following method may be useful 
in leading the young to acquire those ideas : 

Teacher, Have you a conscience 'i 

Pupil. I suppose every one has a conscience. 

7*. I did not ask you what you supposed 
about others ; I asked you, Have you a con- 
science } 

P. Yes, sir, I have. 

T. What do you mean when you say, I have 
a conscience } 

P. I mean that I can see that some things 
are right and other things wrong. 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 207 

T, Exactly so. If you see a man stealing 
money, what do you call the act 1 

P, I call it a wrong act. 

T, How do you know it is wrong .? 

P. I see it to be wrong. No one has a right 
to take what does not belong to him. 

T. Can you prove that 1 

P, No, sir ; but it is so plain that it don't 
need proof. 

T. That is true. The truths that are too 
plain to admit of proof, are called self-evident 
truths. Suppose you see a man attempt to 
murder another, how do you know he is doing 
wrong .? 

P, I see that he is. 

T, What kind of truth is expressed by the 
proposition. It is wrong to commit murder.'^ 

P, It is a self-evident truth. 

T, What kind of truths are the propositions, 
'' Marble is hard," " The sky is blue," " The 
whole of a thing is greater than its part ? " 

P. They are self-evident truths. 



2o8 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

7*. How do we perceive self-evident truths ? 

P, By looking at them. 

T, Yes, we see them as soon as we look at 
them. Thus we see that some acts are right 
and others wrong, as soon as we look at them. 
In all simple cases, we see the right or wrong 
of an act directly, without any reasoning, sim- 
ply by looking at it. The mind is so made that 
it perceives some truths in regard to duty 
directly, just as it perceives some truths in rela- 
tion to numbers directly. But in regard to 
other truths, the case is different. Suppose you 
should see a man handing another some money ; 
is the act right or wrong } 
P. I couldn't tell. 

T. What would you need to know before you 
could tell whether the act was right or wrong } 
P, I should need to know what he was giving 
him the money for. 

T, Suppose you found it was given in pay- 
ment for a just debt } 

P. Then the act would be right. 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 209 

7*. Suppose it was given him as a bribe to 
swear falsely ? 

P, Then it would be wrong. 

T, Yes : the moral character of the act would 
depend upon the motive of the actor, and if you 
did not know his motive, you could not deter- 
mine the moral character of the act. Suppose 
you can't find out what a man's motive is in a 
particular act.^ 

P, I can't tell whether it is right or wrong. 

T, Suppose you think his motive is good 
when it is not. What would be true in regard 
to your conclusion as to the moral character of 
the act ? 

P, My conclusion would be wrong. 

T, Then you may sometimes think an action 
to be right, when it is not t 

P. Yes, sir. 

T. Thus you see we may make mistakes re- 
specting what is right, as we may respecting 
what is true. The mind is not infallible on any 

subject. When I say it is not infallible, I mean 
14 



210 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

it is liable to make mistakes. Suppose you are 
offered a liquid of a very pleasant taste ; would 
it be right for you to drink it ? 

P, I don't know, sir. 

T, Suppose you are sure that it will do you 
no harm, but will do you good ? 

P, Then it would be right to drink it. 

7*. Suppose you find that it will poison 
you ? 

P, Then it would be wrong to drink it ? 

T, In order to know whether it would be right 
or wrong to drink it, you must know the conse- 
quences of drinking it. Suppose you are in 
error as to the consequences, what effect on 
your conclusion would it have '^, 

P, It might cause me to come to a wrong 
conclusion. 

7! Yes ; you see, then, that we may make 
mistakes in regard to duty. When the duty is 
a self-evident one, we are not liable to mistakes. 
When duty is to be inferred from facts previ- 
ously known, we may fall into error. We ac- 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 211 

quire a knowledge of duty, or of what is right 
or wrong, just as we acquire other kinds of 
knowledge ; namely, by direct perception and by 
inference. 

P. I have heard it said that conscience is the 
voice of God in the soul. If it is the voice of 
God, it must always be right. 

7". Is the language you have quoted figura- 
tive or literal } 

P, Figurative. 

T, Yes ; and the meaning of it is that God 
has given the soul the power to perceive the 
difference between right and wrong. Translate 
the figurative into literal language, and you will 
see that the conclusion does not follow. " God 
has given the mxind power to perceive the differ- 
ence between right and wrong ; therefore its per- 
ceptions are infallible." You might as well say, 
God has given us power to perceive the relations 
of numbers ; therefore all our arithmetical opera- 
tions are infallibly correct. When we say con- 
science is fallible, it is only another mode of 



212 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

saying that the mind may make mistakes in 
regard to duty. Is there any infallible standard 
of duty ? 

P. Yes, sir ; the Bible. 

T. Right. When God tells us our duty, there 
can be no mistake about it. His word is infal- 
lible ; but may we not fail to understand that 
word ? 

P. I don't suppose we can understand it 
all. 

7"! In regard to a particular duty laid down, 
may we not mistake the meaning of the com- 
mandment ? 

P. 1 suppose we may. 

T, The Bible is the infallible standard of duty, 
but we are not infallible in our interpretation 
of it. Why are we under obligation to do 
right ? 

P, Because it is necessary to make us happy. 

T, Suppose that doing wrong would make 
you more happy than doing right ; would it be 
right to do wrong ? 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 213 

P, No, sir ; it can never be right to do wrong. 

T. Why should you beHeve a true statement? 
Why should you beh'eve that the earth is com- 
posed of land and water } 

P, Because it is composed of land and water 
—because it is true. 

71 Is the fact that a proposition is actually 
true, a sufficient reason for believing it } 

P, Yes, sir. 

T, And is not the fact that a thing is right, 
a sufficient reason for doing it, that is, if it is 
within our sphere of action } 

P, Yes, sir. 

T, We want no reason for doing right. We 
were made to do right, just as truly as we were 
made to perceive truth. 

In his actual instructions in his class on the 
topics above considered, the writer asks many 
more questions than are here recorded. When 
he was young he thought that clear statement, 
attended by illustrations, was all that the pupil 
required. Experience has taught him better. 



214 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 



He has learned the importance of keeping the 
mind of the pupil directed for a long time to a 
topic. At the same time, it must be kept act- 
ive, or weariness and want of interest will be 
the result. 




CHAPTER XXXIV. 

AN EDUCATIONAL PHOTOGRAPH. 

T T is said that it is the work of the teacher 
to communicate truth to his pupils. More 
strictly speaking, it is the work of the teacher 
to cause his pupils to see truth. The clear 
statement of a truth does not necessarily add 
to the pupirs knowledge. If the truth stated 
be within the range of his experience, it will add 
to his knowledge, that is, will be fully appre- 
hended. For example, if to one in Albany the 
statement is made, " It rained yesterday in New 
York," there is an increase of knowledge on 
the part of the hearer. But if the statement is 
of a truth without the range of familiar analo- 
gies, it will be imperfectly apprehended. Mere 
statement, however clear, is often insufficient. 
The following statement does not la.ck clear- 



2i6 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

ness : A knowledge of the truth is important^ 
because it is the condition of wise action. Yet 
to most young minds it will convey only a very 
general idea. To make the young pupil see 
the truth it contains, something like the follow- 
ing process is necessary : 

Teacher, Do you know what a true state- 
ment is ? 

PupiL Yes, sir. 

T. Give me an example of a true statement. 

P, Leaves are green. 

T, Suppose I should say, Leaves are white ; 
what kind of a statement would that be } 

P. It would not be true. 

T. What do you call a statement that is not 
true } 

P, A false statement* 

T, You know the difference between true 

* The teacher should lead the pupil to make his answer the 
exact correlative of the question. The connection between 
accuracy of expression and accuracy of thought should neve^ 
be overlooked. 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 217 

and false statements — true and false things — 
truth and falsehood. Which is it the most 
important for us to know, truths or false- 
hoods ? 

P. Truths. 

T, Why is a knowledge of truth more im- 
portant than a knowledge of falsehood } 

P. Because we need to know what is true-^ 
what is real. 

7! Why do we need to know what is true } 

P. Because — well, I know we ought to know 
what is true — I can't tell why. 

7! Suppose you wished to go to a place that 
you had not seen ; what would you want to know 
about the way to it } 

P, I should want to know the right way. 

7; Why would you wish to know the right 
way ? 

P. So that I might take it, and reach the 
place. 

T, Wouldn't a knowledge of the wrong way 
do just as well } 



2i8 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

P, No, sir ; I should not want to take the 
wrong way ; I should never get there if I did. 

T, You see, then, that a knowledge of the 
true way is important, as it is necessary to wise 
effort. A knowledge of the truth is necessary 
to the traveller, in order that he may reach his 
journey's end. Now, suppose a person should 
send you from China the seeds of a rare flower, 
and you wished to make it grow and bloom in 
your garden, what would you want to know 
about it } 

P, I should want to know when to plant the 
seeds and how to take care of the plants. 

7! Why would you need true instead of false 
statements respecting planting and culture } 

P. In order that I might know what to do. 

T, You could act on false information could 
you not } 

P, Yes, sir ; but I shouldn't succeed in mak- 
ing the plants grow. 

T, You thus see that a knowledge of the 
truth is the condition of wise action in regar4 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 219 

to the culture of plants. Now let us take 
another case. Suppose you were sick, and 
needed medicine to cure you ; what would you 
need to know ? 

P, I should need to know what medicine to 
take. 

T. Yes, you would need to know the right 
medicine ; why } 

P. If I didn t know the right medicine, I 
shouldn't be likely to take it. 

T, Accurate knowledge would thus be neces- 
sary to wise action. Let us take another case. 
Suppose you wished to make a certain person 
happy. What would you need to know before 
you could wisely begin to act } 

P. I should want to know something about 
the person — something about his circumstances. 

r. Why.? 

P, Because I should not otherwise know what 
to do. I might mean well, but I might do some- 
thing that would not make him happy. 

7! Suppose some one gives you false infor- 



220 Hand-Book on Teaching. 

mation in respect to his circumstances and dis- 
position, and you act on that information ? 

P, I may make him unhappy instead of 
happy. 

T, Thus you see that you must know the 
truth respecting that person, in order that you 
may act wisely in your efforts to promote his 
happiness. We will take one case more. Sup- 
pose you wish to become a Christian ; what do 
you need to know } 

P, I need to know what I must do to be 
saved. 

T, Suppose one should tell you that you must 
torture your body for that purpose } 

P. He would not tell me the truth. 

T. Suppose you had no other direction given 
you } 

P, If I didn't know any better, I might fol- 
low it. 

T. Would you secure salvation by so doing ? 

P. No, sir ; I must do what the Bible says 
must be done. 



Hand-Book on Teaching. 221 

T. Certainly. You must act in accordance 
with the truth, and hence you must know the 
truth. Suppose you have become a Christian, 
what are you to do then ? 

P, I must do the will of God. 

7! What must always precede the perform- 
ance of duty } 

P, A willingness to do it. 

7! True, but that is not what I mean ; what 
knowledge must you have } 

P, I must have a knowledge of what my 
duty is. 

7! An accurate knowledge } 

P. Yes, sir ; I must know just what I ought 
to do, in order to do it. 

T, You see, then, that in regard to all things, 
knowledge of the truth is the condition of wise 
action. The Scriptures insist on the impor- 
tance of a knowledge of the truth, and you see 
the reason of it. We were made to act wisely, 
and accurate knowledge is necessary to wise 
action. 



222 HaND-BoOK on TEACHING. 

The truths presented above could be stated 
in a few brief sentences, and the pupil could 
commit them to memory ; but he would have 
no such knowledge of them as would be ac- 
quired by the process above indicated. Line 
upon line does not mean the verbal repetition 
of the same statement, but successive views of 
the truth from various stand-points, or by vari- 
ous illustrations. 




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